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A slug on a wall in Kanagawa, Japan.. Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc.The word slug is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a small internal shell, particularly sea slugs and semi-slugs (this is in contrast to the common name snail, which applies to ...
Determining whether some gastropods should be called sea snails is not always easy. Some species that live in brackish water (such as certain neritids) can be listed as either freshwater snails or marine snails, and some species that live at or just above the high tide level (for example, species in the genus Truncatella) are sometimes considered to be sea snails and sometimes listed as land ...
A few species of molluscs, including octopuses and cone snails, can sting or bite. Some present a serious risk to people handling them. However, deaths from jellyfish stings are ten times as common as those from mollusc bites. [43] Live cone snails can be dangerous to shell collectors, but are useful to neurology researchers. [44]
This mantle is the part in snails that secretes a shell, but in the black slug, the mantle contains a resilient protective structure of calcareous granules. [6] Arion ater produces three forms of mucus. The first two aid the animal in locomotion, with a thinner mucus coating the animal laterally, and a thicker, more viscous mucus secreted along ...
Snails can be found in a very wide range of environments, including ditches, deserts, and the abyssal depths of the sea. Although land snails may be more familiar to laymen, marine snails constitute the majority of snail species, and have much greater diversity and a greater biomass. Numerous kinds of snail can also be found in fresh water.
These snails can survive in aestivation for a few months when removed from their freshwater habitat or when the habitat dries out. [28] For example, the snail lives in banana plantation drains in Saint Lucia. [29] Biomphalaria glabrata can also survive up to 16 hours in anaerobic water using lactic acid fermentation. [30]
Otala lactea, known as the milk snail or Spanish snail, is a large, edible [3] species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk, in the family Helicidae, the typical snails. [4] Archaeological recovery at the Ancient Roman site of Volubilis, in Morocco, illustrates prehistoric exploitation of O. lactea by humans. [5]
During times when the numbers are critically low, the snail is most vulnerable to human disturbances or natural disasters (like the spring temporarily drying up). While scientists do not know exactly why the population fluctuates so much, it is probably due to changes in water temperature and chemistry or changes to the bacteria and algae.