Sea snail
Marine gastropod molluscs with coiled shells, eaten by humans and animals.
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Sea snails are eaten by various marine mammals, fish, and crustaceans, and their shells are used by hermit crabs for protection.[1] Marine gastropod mollusks known as sea snails possess shells that are typically helicoidally coiled, with the protoconch, or original juvenile shell, remaining at the apex of the spire.[2][3] Variables including water temperature, depth, food availability, and isotopic oxygen levels influence how quickly a sea snail's shell grows.[3]
Quick Facts
- Field
- Marine gastropod molluscs
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
Between the Cambrian and Devonian, gastropods were entirely marine, but by the Carboniferous some had entered non-marine waters.[2] The shell is constructed in three layers: a thin colored outer layer, a thick calcareous middle layer, and a thin mother-of-pearl inner layer.[2] Sea snails are a food source of sterols, including cholesterol and phytosterol, and minerals important for human health.[4] Helicoidal coiling is the norm for sea snail shells, while planispiral coiling is uncommon.[3]
An examination of aragonite composition within the growth layers of a mollusk shell allows for a prediction of the shell's ultimate size.[3] Because their shells contain a high amount of calcium carbonate, sea snails are a possible raw material for manufacturing lime.[5] Triggerfish, hogfish, and certain pufferfish are among the fish species that hunt and eat sea snails.[1]
What the cited sources add
The British Geological Survey notes that gills occur in most aquatic gastropods, but in land snails part of the mantle cavity forms a lung.[2] The same source states that during the Carboniferous, gastropods began living in fresh water and terrestrial snails probably evolved from these species.[2] Edwards reports that snails range in size from 0.024 inches long to nearly 3 feet in length.[6] Edwards also notes that snails can deter predators using camouflage, thickened shells, defensive mucus, and hiding.[6]
Edwards adds that triggerfish, saltwater pufferfish, hogfish, and wrasses eat snails in marine environments.[6] Edwards states that hermit crabs are said to kill snails for their shells, but experts believe they typically attack only if hungry or if the snail is sick or dying.[6]
References
- Wikipedia, "Sea snail" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Edwards, "Which Animals Eat Snails? A Look at Snail Hunters", A-Z Animals, 2022-03-21 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Gastropods", British Geological Survey. facts only, no text reused. bgs.ac.uk
- Wikipedia, "Sea snail" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Roy, "Growth pattern and oxygen isotopic systematics of modern freshwater mollusks along an elevation transect: Implications for paleoclimate reconstruction", Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2019; Vermeij, "Evolution and distribution of left-handed and planispiral coiling in snails", Nature, 1975, p. 419–420; "Gastropods", British Geological Survey (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sea snail" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fiordelmondo, "Sterol and Mineral Profiles of the Common Sea Snail Hinia reticulata and the Long Sea Snail Nassarius mutabilis (Gastropods) Collected from the Middle Adriatic Sea", Current Research in Nutrition & Food Sc (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sea snail" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ferraz, "A Starting Point on Recycling Land and Sea Snail Shell Wastes to Manufacture Quicklime, Milk of Lime, and Hydrated Lime", Materials, 2024, p. 5683 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Edwards, "Which Animals Eat Snails? A Look at Snail Hunters", A-Z Animals, 2022-03-21. facts only, no text reused. a-z-animals.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Sea snail (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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More in Marine Invertebrates
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Sea snail (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the , each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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