Study of the Effect of Climate Change on Growth of Seawater Snail, Planaxis sulcatus in Coast of Yanbu- Saudi Arabia

The most notable indicators of climate change are noticed in many climatic phenomena since the 1950s. Global climate change is manifested by global warming and sea-level rise. This study aimed to detect the effect of temperature on wet weight, shell length and shell aperture of seawater snail Planaxis sulcatus. This study is an experimental study that investigated 54 Planaxis sulcatus snails.  The samples were collected from the beach of Yanbu in western Saudi Arabia then transferred to the lab. Samples were divided into 3 groups control, cure 1 and cure 2. Each group contained 18 snails. Group cure 1 was treated by increasing water temperature to be 28.8°C, while group cure 2 was treated by increasing water temperature to be 32°C. This study showed that, regardingPlanaxis sulcatus, there were no significant differences between weekly measures of the wet weight, shield length, and shield aperture. Also, there were no significant differences between the three studied groups (control, cure 1 and cure 2) regarding the weekly assessed wet weight, shield length, and shield aperture of snails at any station of the study (p>0.05). In conclusion: There is a need for conducting further experimental studies to detect the effects of different climate factors such as high temperature, acidity and salinity.