AbstractA laboratory experiment was conducted with the marine gastropodLittorina littoreafrom three different sites in Long Island Sound to test for inducible responses to the non‐native predatory crabHemigrapsus sanguineus. Individuals ofL. littoreadid not exhibit decreased shell growth in response to increased predation risk, which differs from the response seen in other species ofLittorina.However, snails did exhibit slower growth in response to reduced food availability, as seen in other gastropods. Surprisingly, snails from two sites exhibited differences between the crab‐exposed and reduced food‐availability treatments in how they remodeled the thickness of different microstructural layers of shell material in apical parts of the shell. Although individuals ofL. littoreadid not show the typical shell thickening response seen in other gastropods, they did show differences among populations in remodeling their shell. This underlies the importance of examining how the shell is constructed and remodeled in studies of inducible defenses in gastropods, as well as the importance of examining animals from multiple populations.
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