The Rough Hornsnail (Pleurocera foremani) is a very rare snail that is endemic to the Cahaba and Coosa rivers (photograph by Thomas Tarpley).
Common Name: Rough Hornsnail
Scientific Name: Pleurocera foremani (Lea)
Other Names: Foreman"s High-spired Riversnail
Description: Shell thick (>30 mm [1 1/8 in.] long), elongately conic in outline with a moderately high spire. Whorls rather flattened and sutures irregularly impressed. Body whorl may be widely convex to broadly angled. Lower whorls circled by row of closely set tubercles. Aperture elongately ovate, angular above, and channeled basally. Periostracum yellowish brown. Inside of aperture white. (Modified from Tryon 1873)
Distribution: Endemic to Mobile Basin, where it was historically known from Cahaba and Coosa Rivers (Goodrich 1944). Extant in lower Yellowleaf Creek, Shelby County, and Coosa River downstream of Jordan Dam.
Habitat: Primarily on clean gravel and cobble in moderate currents at depths of approximately one meter (3 1/4 feet). However, has been collected from silty bedrock at three-meter (9 3/4-foot) depth just downstream of shoals on Coosa Rier at Wetumpka.
Life History and Ecology: Unknown.
Basis for Status Classification: Vulnerable to extinction due to limited distribution, declining population trend, and specialized habitat requirements. Distribution greatly reduced by impoundment of Coosa River and degraded water quality in Cahaba River. Listed as endngered in Alabama (Stein 1976).
above from Alabama Wildlife, Volume 2 (2004), prepared by: Paul D. Hartfield
