lovelysnailfacts

[lovelysnailfacts]

correction on Vittina Waigiensis

their expected lifespan should be around 10 years, they're the longest lived snails in captivity I know of. All nerite snails should be expected to get near a decade in age, as far as I know. At least the species kept in captivity.

Thank you for the correction! I'll update the post.

I try my best to do my research and keep everything factual but sometimes I make mistakes! In my research I did not find anything with those numbers! Can you send me a link? Thank you! :)

[lovelysnailfacts]

The Zospeum Tholossum also called the Croatian Cave snail (or Ghostly Domed land snail - amazing name) was found roughly 3,000 feet below the Earths surface within a Croatian cave system the Lukina Jama-Trojama cave system to be specific! Their shell height is less than two millimeters (0.08 inches) and their shell width is around one millimeter (0.04 inches). These snails are defined as true eutroglobionts! As they live deep within cave systems they are blind! They were discovered in 2012 and as of the International Institute for Species Exploration, on 14, May of 2014 they were declared the "Top 10 New Species of 2014"! It is important to note that only one living specimen was found during this time! As these snails are so small, it could take a weeks time for them to move simple millimeters. These snails, because of this fact, follow circular patterns while grazing, seldom leaving this small circle.

(Photograph done by Alexander M. Weigand)

[lovelysnailfacts]

This is the Megalobulimus oblongus! They are also called Strophocheilus oblongus and are land snails! They are roughly seven to eight inches long in shell and while similar to Giant African Snails, these snails are native to South America (Uruguay specifically)! They were discovered in 1774.

Above image from this source

Above image from this reddit thread

[lovelysnailfacts]

This is an Tropidophora Cuveriana also called the Cuvier Tropid snail, they are native to Madagascar! Previously found extinct, they were actually rediscovered. Despite this, not much is known about their breeding nor diet in the wild! They exist only in Ankrarana National Park, Madagascar and are highly endangered! These snails are fascinating to me because of their anatomy! A different post of mine mentioned the Tylomelania Gemmifera (or Orange rabbit snails), the Cuvier Tropid look highly similar in anatomy, however, the Cuvier Tropid is exclusively a land snail whereas orange rabbit snails exist in freshwater rivers.

(above photos found at inaturalist)

(this image found from an r/snails post)

[lovelysnailfacts]

The Vittina Waigiensis also called the Red Racer Nerite Snail inhabits fresh water and brackish water areas! They cannot reproduce in fresh water (only in brackish waters). They originate in the Philippines and Indonesia (in places like Sulawesi and the Maluku Islands) and they can live up to four years!

(Picture found from this website)

[lovelysnailfacts]

There are roughly 23 species of snails that are carnivorous. The meat-eating snail Powelliphantasnails will eat earthworms similar to spaghetti noodles sucked into their radula. They are also known to eat slugs! The largest species of this snail, the Powelliphanta superba prouseorum can be found in Kahruangi National Park and can measure up to 9 centimeters across! These snails are found in areas native to New Zealand. The genus was named after Dr A.W.B Powell, a former scientist at Auckland Museum who studied these snails during the 1930s and 1940s!

(https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/dead-heat/)

(https://www.cultofweird.com/nature/giant-snail-eats-earthworm/)

(https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/invertebrates/powelliphanta-snails/)

[lovelysnailfacts]

By perchance the strangest species of snail is the Worm snail (Vermetidae). They are sea-snails that grow on hard surfaces cemented together in colonies! These snails resemble tube worms and can be found in Floridan waters or anywhere along the Pacific coast of North America south of Monterey! These snails interestingly have no operculum!

(Image source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51437-Vermetidae)

(Image source: http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2013/09/worm-snail.html)

[lovelysnailfacts]

This is the Tylomelania Gemmifera, also called a variety of names such as the Golden Rabbit snail, the Orange Rabbit snail, Orange Poso snails, and Giant Sulawesi Rabbit Snails! These gastropods are freshwater snails found in Indonesia specifically varying around Malili Lake! They are an invasive species and actually categorized as an endemic!

(Image credit: https://buceplant.com/products/orange-poso-rabbit-snail)

(Image credit: http://www.shrimptank.ca/sulawesi-orange-rabbit-snails/)

[lovelysnailfacts]

This is a Candy Cane Snail (Liguus Virgineus). Its shell coloration is produced by pigment glands in the mantle, called chromophores, and are active for the entire life of the snail! They are native to the Caribbean and the island of Hispaniola. They live in trees! They have 200 rows of teeth! Indigenous people of Hispaniola ate these snails and have been depicted and known of since 1684!

(Image sources from https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdesoto/24659521261/sizes/z/ and https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/335470-Liguus-virgineus)

[lovelysnailfacts]

Chrysomallon Squamiferum (Volcano Snails) are known to have sclerite as a part of a micro skeleton that is formed to provide survivability to the animal. In this case, the sclerites are the iron that coat the animals shell and that has adapted to form into their exoskeleton. Volcano snails have no eyes but their heart makes up 4% of their total body volume! The population living in the solitaire vent field have developed a white color due to the lack of iron but those in the Kairei vent field are the “traditional” volcano snails as they are black and magnetic. Those in the Longqi vent field are a brown or golden color due to the prescence of greigite and pyrite. Volcano snails, because of their habitat they have adapted to withstand the heat and pressure of both their underwater conditions and the restraints of living in volcanoes under sea level. 

Photography by Dr. Chong Chen

[lovelysnailfacts]

The shell of the Chrysomallon Squamiferum is composed of three main layers. The outer layer is thin and organic reinforced by iron sulfide (Greigite) particles that are output by the thermal vents. The iron sulfide allows for protection against crabs; while most shells would obtain one large crack from the force of a crabs claw, the iron sulfide outer shell provides a structure that produces only small cracks rather than a severely damaged shell. The middle layer is thicker and dense. It’s pliable and used to absorb the shocks of pressure from predators. The inner layer is calcified. The Chrysomallon Squamiferum has adapted to absorb the iron sulfide and become “armored” against predators and the heat!

[lovelysnailfacts]

The Volcano snail (Chrysomallon Squamiferum) lives in vents located 1.5 to 1.8 miles below sea level! They live in three locations found in the Indian Ocean off of Madagascar on both Eastern and Southern coasts.

Discovered in 2001 in the Kairei vent field, then in the Solitaire vent field (which is 700 km North of the Kairei), then the Longqi (2,300 km Southwest of the Kairei vent).

These snails can live in heats of up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit (398.889 degrees Celsius)

(Image Credit: Map of Indian Ocean Ridges, showing the locations of the four hydrothermal vent fields)

Chrysomallon Squamiferum photograph taken by  Dr. Chong Chen

[lovelysnailfacts]

The Janthina Janthina snail (Violet sea snail) is blind! When they feel threatened, similar to species like Octopi, they secrete a dark blue or purple ink. These snails at only a maximum length of three centimeters will eat jellyfish! Unlike most snails, that are simply hermaphrodites, these snails are born with male reproductive organs and upon reaching maturity become female, losing their male organs!

(Image credit: Australian Geographic)

[lovelysnailfacts]

Snails are born with their shell, soft and malleable. As they eat calcium their shell hardens!

The Violet Sea Snail (Janthina Janthina) is a species of holoplanktonic sea snail! They're found in warm tropical waters and they float on the surface of he ocean on a secreted "raft" of mucus bubbles.

These snails have soft pliable shells as they do not gain calcium from their diet!

[lovelysnailfacts]

Snails can lay over 100 eggs in one clutch! Usually one 20 to 50 of these eggs will successfully hatch and reach maturity however. And, out of those snails, those who reproduce successfully, about 1/3 of them will die directly after laying eggs.

[lovelysnailfacts]

To find the age of a snail, much like trees, one can count the coils of their shell!

[lovelysnailfacts]

It would take the average snail approximately 33.33 hours to reach one mile traveled