Nutrition
The Engraved Blade Tooth snail eats algal films found on the trees that it lives on (Craig 2004). It uses its radula, a hard feeding structure, to scrap the algae away and devour it (Gillis 2012).
According to Hickman, after the food has been ingested, it is stored in the crop where enzymes produced in the salivary glands begin to break it down. It is moved to the inside of the stomach and further digested. The material is then brought to the intestines where nutrients and water are absorbed and then passed through the anus (Hickman 2012).
The photo above shows an example of Patera perigrapta's food source, algae growing on trees.
Our snail mainly forages for its food during dawn and dusk, making it crepuscular (Craig 2004). If the environment becomes over crowded, the engraved blade tooth snail may resort to cannibalism, however this is not a normal trait of the snail (Craig 2004).
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