![Epiphragma einer Weinbergschnecke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Epiphragma_einer_Weinbergschnecke.JPG)
A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled
gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
. The name is most often applied to
land snails
A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...
,
terrestrial
Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth.
Terrestrial may also refer to:
* Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
pulmonate
Pulmonata or pulmonates, is an informal group (previously an order, and before that a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includ ...
gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
s. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class
Gastropoda
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. ...
that have a coiled
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
that is large enough for the animal to retract completely into. When the word "snail" is used in this most general sense, it includes not just land snails but also numerous species of
sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...
s and
freshwater snail
Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...
s. Gastropods that naturally lack a
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
, or have only an internal shell, are mostly called ''
slug
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 smal ...
s'', and land snails that have only a very small shell (that they cannot retract into) are often called ''
semi-slug
Semi-slugs, also spelled semislugs, are land gastropods whose shells are too small for them to retract into, but not quite vestigial. The shell of some semi-slugs may not be easily visible on casual inspection, because the shell may be covered ...
s''.
Snails have considerable human relevance, including as food items, as pests, and as vectors of disease, and their shells are used as decorative objects and are incorporated into jewelry. The snail has also had some cultural significance, tending to be associated with lethargy. The snail has also been used as a
figure of speech
A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use in order to produce a rhetorical effect. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into '' schemes,'' which vary the ordinary ...
in reference to slow-moving things. The snail is the same or similar shape as the
cochlea
The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus. A core component of the cochlea is the Organ of Corti, the sensory org ...
.
Overview
Snails that
respire using a
lung
The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...
belong to the group
Pulmonata
Pulmonata or pulmonates, is an informal group (previously an order, and before that a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includ ...
. As traditionally defined, the Pulmonata were found to be
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...
in a molecular study per Jörger ''et al.'', dating from 2010.
But snails with
gill
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...
s also form a
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...
group; in other words, snails with lungs and snails with gills form a number of
taxonomic
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
groups that are not necessarily more closely related to each other than they are related to some other groups.
Both snails that have lungs and snails that have gills have diversified so widely over geological time that a few species with gills can be found on land and numerous species with lungs can be found in freshwater. Even a few marine species have lungs.
Snails can be found in a very wide range of environments, including
ditch
A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...
es,
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
s, and the
abyssal
The abyssal zone or abyssopelagic zone is a layer of the pelagic zone of the ocean. "Abyss" derives from the Greek word , meaning bottomless. At depths of , this zone remains in perpetual darkness. It covers 83% of the total area of the ocean an ...
depths of the sea. Although
land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...
snails may be more familiar to laymen,
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
snails constitute the majority of snail species, and have much greater diversity and a greater
biomass
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
. Numerous kinds of snail can also be found in
fresh water
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
.
Most snails have thousands of microscopic tooth-like structures located on a banded ribbon-like tongue called a
radula
The radula (, ; plural radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food ...
. The radula works like a file, ripping food into small pieces. Many snails are
herbivorous
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
, eating plants or rasping algae from surfaces with their radulae, though a few land species and many marine species are
omnivore
An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutr ...
s or
predatory
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
carnivore
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...
s. Snails cannot absorb colored pigments when eating paper or cardboard so their feces are also colored.
Several species of the genus ''
Achatina
''Achatina'' is a genus of medium-sized to very large, air-breathing, tropical land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Achatinidae.Bouchet, P. (2014). Achatina Lamarck, 1799. Accessed through: World Register of Marine ...
'' and related genera are known as giant African land snails; some grow to from snout to tail, and weigh .
The largest living species of sea snail is ''
Syrinx aruanus
''Syrinx aruanus'', common name the Australian trumpet or false trumpet, is a species of extremely large sea snail measuring up to 91 cm long and weighing up to 18 kg. It is a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turbinellidae, and ...
''; its shell can measure up to in length, and the whole animal with the shell can weigh up to . Recently, the smallest land snails, ''
Angustopila dominikae
''Angustopila dominikae'' is a species of light grey, round, land snails, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Hypselostomatidae. ''Angustopila dominikae'' have been found in southern China, and are considered to be one of the ...
,'' have been discovered in China, and measure 0.86mm long.
The snail ''
Lymnaea
''Lymnaea'' is a genus of small to large-sized air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Lymnaeinae ( of the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.Bouchet, P.; Rosenberg, G. (2013). Lymnaea Lamarck, 179 ...
'' makes decisions by using only two types of neurons: one deciding whether the snail is hungry, and the other deciding whether there is food in the vicinity.
The largest known land gastropod is the African giant snail ''Achatina achatina'', the largest recorded specimen of which measured from snout to tail when fully extended, with a shell length of in December 1978. It weighed exactly 900 g (2 lb). Named Gee Geronimo, this snail was owned by Christopher Hudson (1955–79) of Hove, East Sussex, UK, and was collected in Sierra Leone in June 1976.
Diet
![Salyangozlar (Kadıköy - Hasanpaşa)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Salyangozlar_%28Kad%C4%B1k%C3%B6y_-_Hasanpa%C5%9Fa%29.jpg)
Snails eating habits vary widely, with some being generalists and some being specialist feeders.
Snails feed at night.
They feed primarily on decaying organic matter.
Their diet also includes fungi, lichens, green foliage, worms, centipedes, insects, animal feces, carrion, and other slugs.
Some snails feed on other snails too.
Types of snails by habitat
Slugs
Gastropods
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. Ther ...
that lack a conspicuous shell are commonly called
slug
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 smal ...
s rather than snails. Some species of slug have a maroon-brown shell, some have only an internal
vestige
Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...
that serves mainly as a calcium lactate repository, and others have some to no shell at all. Other than that there is little
morphological difference between slugs and snails. There are however important differences in habitats and behavior.
A shell-less animal is much more maneuverable and compressible, so even quite large land slugs can take advantage of habitats or retreats with very little space, retreats that would be inaccessible to a similar-sized snail. Slugs squeeze themselves into confined spaces such as under loose bark on trees or under stone slabs, logs or wooden boards lying on the ground. In such retreats they are in less danger from either predators or desiccation. Those are often suitable places for laying their eggs.
Slugs as a group are far from
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
; scientifically speaking "slug" is a term of convenience with little taxonomic significance. The reduction or loss of the shell has evolved many times independently within several very different lineages of gastropods. The various taxa of land and sea gastropods with slug morphology occur within numerous higher taxonomic groups of shelled species; such independent slug taxa are not in general closely related to one another.
Human relevance
![Snail-wiki-120-Zachi-Evenor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Snail-wiki-120-Zachi-Evenor.jpg)
Land snails are known as an agricultural and garden pest but some species are an edible delicacy and occasionally household
pet
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...
s. In addition, their mucus can also be used for skin care products.
In agriculture
There are a variety of snail-control measures that gardeners and farmers use in an attempt to reduce damage to valuable plants. Traditional pesticides are still used, as are many less toxic control options such as concentrated
garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...
or
wormwood solutions.
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
metal is also a snail repellent, and thus a copper band around the trunk of a tree will prevent snails from climbing up and reaching the foliage and fruit. A layer of a dry, finely ground, and scratchy substance such as
diatomaceous earth
Diatomaceous earth (), diatomite (), or kieselgur/kieselguhr is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that can be crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging from more than 3 μm to le ...
can also deter snails.
The
decollate snail
The decollate snail, scientific name ''Rumina decollata'', is a medium-sized predatory land snail, a species of terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Achatinidae. It is a European species that has been introduced in a number o ...
(''Rumina decollata'') will capture and eat garden snails, and because of this it has sometimes been introduced as a
biological pest control
Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also invo ...
agent. However, this is not without problems, as the decollate snail is just as likely to attack and devour other gastropods that may represent a valuable part of the native fauna of the region.
As food
![Cooked snails](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Cooked_snails.JPG)
In
French cuisine
French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...
, edible snails are served for instance in ''
Escargot
Snails are considered edible in many areas such as the Mediterranean region, Africa, or Southeast Asia, while in other cultures, snails are seen as a taboo food. In American English, edible land snails are also called escargot, taken from the Fren ...
à la
Bourguignonne''. The practice of rearing snails for food is known as
heliciculture
Heliciculture, commonly known as snail farming, is the process of raising edible land snails, primarily for human consumption or cosmetic use. The meat and snail eggs a.k.a. ''white caviar'' can be consumed as escargot and as a type of caviar, res ...
. For purposes of cultivation, the snails are kept in a dark place in a wired cage with dry straw or dry wood.
Coppiced
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...
wine-grape vines are often used for this purpose. During the rainy period, the snails come out of
hibernation
Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It most ...
and release most of their mucus onto the dry wood/straw. The snails are then prepared for cooking. Their texture when cooked is slightly chewy and tender.
As well as being relished as gourmet food, several species of land snails provide an easily harvested source of
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
to many people in poor communities around the world. Many land snails are valuable because they can feed on a wide range of agricultural wastes, such as shed leaves in
banana plantations
A banana plantation is a commercial agricultural facility found in tropical climates where bananas are grown.
Geographic distribution
Banana plants may grow with varying degrees of success in diverse climatic conditions, but
commercial banana p ...
. In some countries,
giant African land snail Giant African land snail is the common name of several species within the family Achatinidae, a family of unusually large African terrestrial snails:
* ''Achatina achatina'', also known as the agate snail or Ghana tiger snail
* ''Lissachatina fulic ...
s are produced commercially for food.
Land snails, freshwater snails and sea snails are all eaten in many countries. In certain parts of the world, snails are fried as for example, in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, they are fried as
satay
Satay ( , in USA also , ), or sate in Indonesian spelling, is a Southeast Asian dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce. The earliest preparations of satay is believed to have originated in Javanese cuisine, but ha ...
, a dish known as ''
sate kakul
Satay ( , in USA also , ), or sate in Indonesian spelling, is a Southeast Asian dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce. The earliest preparations of satay is believed to have originated in Javanese cuisine, but ...
''. The eggs of certain snail species are eaten in a fashion similar to the way
caviar
Caviar (also known as caviare; from fa, خاویار, khâvyâr, egg-bearing) is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread. Traditionally, the ter ...
is eaten.
In
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, snails are traditionally cooked in an oven with rice or fried in a pan with vegetable oil and red paprika powder. Before they are used for those dishes, however, they are thoroughly boiled in hot water (for up to 90 minutes) and manually extracted from their shells. The two species most commonly used for food in the country are ''
Helix lucorum
''Helix lucorum'' is a species of large, edible, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicidae, the typical snails. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Helix lucorum Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed throu ...
'' and ''
Helix pomatia
''Helix pomatia'', common names the Roman snail, Burgundy snail, or escargot, is a species of large, edible, air-breathing land snail, a pulmonate gastropod terrestrial mollusc in the family Helicidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. ...
''.
Famine food
Snails and slug species that are not normally eaten in certain areas have occasionally been used as
famine food
A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or readily available food used to nourish people in times of hunger and starvation, whether caused by extreme poverty, such as during economic depression or war, or by natural disasters such as ...
in historical times. A history of Scotland written in the 1800s recounts a description of various snails and their use as food items in times of plague.
Parasitic diseases
Snails can also be associated with parasitic diseases such as
schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever, is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. The urinary tract or the intestines may be infected. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloody s ...
,
angiostrongyliasis
Angiostrongyliasis is an infection by a roundworm of the '' Angiostrongylus'' type. Symptoms may vary from none, to mild, to meningitis.
Infection with ''Angiostrongylus cantonensis'' (rat lungworm) can occur after ingestion of raw or undercoo ...
,
fasciolopsiasis
Fasciolopsiasis results from an infection by the trematode ''Fasciolopsis buski'', the largest intestinal fluke of humans (up to 7.5 cm in length).
Signs and symptoms
Most infections are light, almost asymptomatic. In heavy infections, sympto ...
,
opisthorchiasis
Opisthorchiasis is a parasitic disease caused by certain species of genus ''Opisthorchis'' (specifically, ''Opisthorchis viverrini'' and ''Opisthorchis felineus''). Chronic infection may lead to cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile ducts.
Medi ...
,
fascioliasis
Fasciolosis is a helminth, parasitic worm infection caused by the common liver fluke ''Fasciola hepatica'' as well as by ''Fasciola gigantica''. The disease is a plant-borne Trematoda, trematode zoonosis, and is classified as a Neglected tropic ...
,
paragonimiasis
Paragonimiasis is a food-borne parasitic disease caused by several species of lung flukes belonging to genus ''Paragonimus''. Infection is acquired by eating crustaceans such as crabs and crayfishes which host the infective forms called metacerca ...
and
clonorchiasis
Clonorchiasis is an infectious disease caused by the Chinese liver fluke (''Clonorchis sinensis'') and two related species.
Clonorchiasis is a known risk factor for the development of cholangiocarcinoma, a neoplasm of the biliary system.
Sympt ...
, which can be transmitted to humans.
Cultural depictions
Symbolism
Because of its slowness, the snail has traditionally been seen as a symbol of laziness. In Christian culture, it has been used as a symbol of the
deadly sin of
sloth
Sloths are a group of Neotropical xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their li ...
.
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
uses
snail slime
Snail slime (''mucopolysaccharide'') is a kind of mucus (an external bodily secretion) produced by snails, which are gastropod mollusks. Land snails and slugs both produce mucus, as does every other kind of gastropod, from marine, freshwater, and ...
as a
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
ical punishment. In
Mayan mythology
Maya or Mayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Maya tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles. The myths of the era have to be reconstructed ...
, the snail is associated with sexual desire, being
personified
Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...
by the god
Uayeb.
Divination and other religious uses
Snails were widely noted and used in
divination
Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...
.
The
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
poet
Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
wrote that snails signified the time to harvest by climbing the stalks, while the
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
moon god
Tecciztecatl bore a snail shell on his back. This symbolised rebirth; the snail's penchant for appearing and disappearing was analogised with the
moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
.
Love darts and Cupid
![Monachoides vicinus dart lateral](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Monachoides_vicinus_dart_lateral.jpg)
Professor Ronald Chase of
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
has suggested the ancient myth of
Cupid
In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...
's arrows might be based on early observations of the
love dart
A love dart (also known as a gypsobelum, shooting darts, or just as darts) is a sharp, calcareous or chitinous dart which some hermaphroditic land snails and slugs create. Love darts are both formed and stored internally in a dart sac. These ...
behavior of the land snail species ''Cornu aspersum''.
Metaphor
In contemporary speech, the expression "a snail's pace" is often used to describe a slow, inefficient process. The phrase "
snail mail
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...
" is used to mean regular postal service delivery of paper messages as opposed to the delivery of
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
, which can be virtually instantaneous.
In medieval and Renaissance manuscripts snails are depicted as a comic relief due to the similarity between the armour of knights and the shell of snails.
In Indonesian mythology
![Dewi Sekartaji Keong Emas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Dewi_Sekartaji_Keong_Emas.JPG)
Keong Emas (
Javanese and
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
for Golden Snail) is a popular
Javanese folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
about a princess magically transformed and contained in a
golden snail shell. The folklore is a part of popular Javanese
Panji cycle
The Panji tales (formerly spelled Pandji) are a cycle of Javanese stories, centred around the legendary prince of the same name from East Java, Indonesia. Along with the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the tales are the basis of various poems and a ge ...
telling the stories about the prince Panji Asmoro Bangun (also known as Raden Inu Kertapati) and his consort, princess Dewi Sekartaji (also known as Dewi Chandra Kirana).
Textiles
Certain varieties of snails, notably the family
Muricidae
Muricidae is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, commonly known as murex snails or rock snails. With about 1,600 living species, the Muricidae represent almost 10% of the Neogas ...
, produce a secretion that is a color-fast
natural dye
Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood—and other biological sources such as fungi.
Archaeol ...
. The ancient
Tyrian purple
Tyrian purple ( grc, πορφύρα ''porphúra''; la, purpura), also known as Phoenician red, Phoenician purple, royal purple, imperial purple, or imperial dye, is a reddish-purple natural dye. The name Tyrian refers to Tyre, Lebanon. It is ...
was made in this way as were other purple and blue dyes. The extreme expense of extracting this secretion is sufficient quantities limited its use to the very wealthy. It is such dyes as these that led to certain shades of purple and blue being associated with royalty and wealth.
As pets
Throughout history, snails have been kept as pets. There are many famous snails such as
Lefty
Lefty is a nickname for a person who is left-handed. Lefty may refer to:
*Lefty Bates (1920–2007), American Chicago blues guitarist
*Lefty Bertrand (1909–2002), Major League Baseball pitcher for one game
* Steve Carlton (born 1944), American ...
(Born Jeremy) and within fiction,
Gary and
Brian the snail
''The Magic Roundabout'' is an English-language children's television programme that ran from 1965 to 1977. It used the footage of the French stop motion animation show ''Le Manège enchanté'' but with completely different scripts and characte ...
.
See also
*
Gastropod shell
The gastropod shell is part of the body of a Gastropoda, gastropod or snail, a kind of mollusc. The shell is an exoskeleton, which protects from predators, mechanical damage, and dehydration, but also serves for muscle attachment and calcium s ...
*
Pasilalinic-sympathetic compass
The pasilalinic-sympathetic compass, also referred to as the snail telegraph, was a contraption built to test the pseudo-scientific hypothesis that snails create a permanent telepathy, telepathic link when they mate. The device was developed by F ...
*
Jeremy (snail)
Jeremy was a left-coiled garden snail investigated by biologists. The snail had a rare condition which caused its shell to coil to the left; in most snails the shell coils to the right. At first it was thought to be a rare genetic mutation, alth ...
*
Land snail
A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...
*
Freshwater snail
Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...
*
Sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...
References
Gallery
File:The snail 1 నత్త.jpg, A snail
File:Snail climbing stone slabs.png, Snail climbing stone slabs at Servia, Greece
Servia (Greek: Σέρβια, ''Sérvia'') is one of the main towns in the Kozani regional unit, West Macedonia, Greece. It is one of the most historical places in the region, with a 6th-century Byzantine castle and the Kamvounia mountain domina ...
. The shell is so heavy that its bottom side becomes visible.
File:SeaSnails.ogv, Snails feeding on the sea floor (50 sec)
File:Snail Melc melc codobelc.ogv, Video of snail after rain (31 sec)
File:Snail moving on ground.webm, Snail moving on a wet ground
File:Snail moving across leaves.webm, Snail moving across leaves.
External links
Introduction to Snails Infoqis Publishing, Co.
{{Authority control
Articles containing video clips
Mollusc common names
*
Paraphyletic groups