– The size of the shell of a snail reflects its age.

– Many snails are in danger of extinction. Among these are the species Aaadonta constricta and Aaadonta fuscozonata, and others of the genus Aaadonta and Achatinella are in critical danger of extinction.

By Josh Tobin

October 15, 2018

University of Plymouth

Shelled marine creatures living in increasingly acidified oceans face a fight for survival as the impacts of climate change spread, a new study suggests.
Writing in Frontiers in Marine Science, scientists say the effects are down to the increased stresses placed on the species in waters where the pH is lower, which reduce their ability to control the calcification process.

And they have warned other shellfish are likely to be impacted in the same way, threatening their survival and that of other species that rely on them for food.

October 21, 2016

University of Nottingham

Scientists are hoping to study the genetics of an ultra-rare garden snail are asking the public for its help in finding the lonely mollusc a mate. The snail’s unique qualities make it a one in a million find - but also impossible for it to mate with its more common counterparts. At first glance, the brown garden snail may look like any other but closer inspection of the snail’s shell reveals exactly why this creature is so special. While the shells of this common species spiral in a right-handed, clockwise direction – known as dextral – this snail is a sinistral, with a left-handed anti-clockwise spiralling shell. In essence, the ‘lefty’ snail is a mirror image of its other shell-dwelling friends.

– When they feel threatened, they usually retreat into their shell to protect themselves.

– The largest land snail is the Achatina achatina, the Giant African Snail.

– Snails have no backbone.

– Some land snails feed on other terrestrial snails.”

– North America has about 500 native species of land snails.

– The snails that just hatch the egg can eat their shells and even other eggs of their brothers.

– Most snails live from 2 to 5 years, but in captivity, some have exceeded 10 or 15 years of age.

– In France, edible snails are “escargot,” a word that also applies to a dish made with them, which is an appetizer.

– The courtship, process by which they attract each other before mating, lasts between 2 and 12 hours.

– In some places, people eat snail eggs, and call them “white caviar.”

– Usually, land snails hatch from eggs.

– The mucus of the garden snail is used to treat wrinkles, spots, and scars on the skin.

– Most snail species are hermaphrodites, so they have both male and female reproductive organs.

– The speed of snails is around 0.5-0.8 inches per second. If they moved without stopping, it would take more than a week to complete 1 kilometer.

– Land snails cover the entrance of their shell with a dry mucus secretion called epiphragm, but a few do it with a structure, that in the aquatic snails, has the name of the operculum.

– Snails do not change shells when they grow up.” Instead, the shell grows along with them.