Deep-water gastropods endemic to Lake Baikal - an SEM study on protoconchs and radulae

Lake Baikal, the deepest limnic water body on Earth is oxygenated throughout. This gave the ecological license to evolve a deep-water adapted malacofauna: Representatives of this fauna: 4 species of Hydrobiidae, including the only recently described Yaroslaviella eximina - 4 species of Baicaliidae, 2 species of Valvatidae, 2 species of Planorbidae, and 1 species of Acroloxidae were reinvestigated using SEM with emphasis on the protoconch and radula structure. Stomach contents were studied additionally in order to get a hint, from which resources these gastropods are living.