Blue
Top Snail |
Blue Ring
Top Snail |
| Most snails look different from their relatives,
the limpets, abalones and chitons. Snails, shells are less streamlined.
Snails are not likely to be eaten because they can hide inside
their shell. The snail protects itself by withdrawing into or
behind a trap door called operculum that protects it from predators
and loss of water. The snail has tentacles on its head. |
| A snail has two teeth on the bottom edge of its
shell that its uses to scrape algae from rocks. The bottom of
its boneless foot acts like a sucker. A snail travels by moving
part of its foot and then pulling the rest after it. |
| A turban snail can withdraw its whole body into
its shell and close a trap-door-like plate behind it. When in
its shell it is protected from predators. Snails can increase
the size of their shell by taking calcium carbonate from the
sea water. They deposit the calcium carbonate on the edges of
their shells. |
| Diet |
algae, seaweed, plankton, mussels, and barnacles |
| Size |
two to ten centimeters |
| Color |
Many different colors and patterns. |
| Life Cycle |
The eggs are fertilized internally, then they are attached
to rocks, shells, seaweed, and are sometimes placed in the sand.
Some snails have both male and female organs. |
| Predators |
shorebirds, fish, lobsters, crabs, other snails, and people
who collect them |
| Neat Facts |
If a turban snail gets flipped over by a wave, it can pick
up pebbles with its feet, and with the extra weight it can roll
over. Turban snails can live up to twenty-five years. |
| Types |
black turban snail, brown turban snail, |
| Relatives |
limpets, abalones, chitons, nudibranchs, sea hares, octopi,
squid, clams, mussels, oysters, scallops |
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