E2BN Gallery

home register and login search teachers' pages help
E2BN Gallery
Home / Nature - Animals / Invertebrates / Slugs and Snails / Garden Snail (Helix aspersa)
Asset 1 of 1 Previous Asset [ 1 ] Next Asset   [Slideshow]

Garden Snail (Helix aspersa)

Show/Hide_Details
Unique Id:

671364

This item is saved in one of your albums. Click to remove it.. My Albums

This is a species of land snail, a pulmonate gastropod, that is one of the best-known of all terrestrial molluscs. The adult bears a hard, thin calcareous shell 25–40 mm in diameter and 25–35 mm high, with four or five whorls. Shell colour is variable but is generally dark brown or chestnut with yellow stripes, flecks, or streaks. It has a soft slimy greyish body that can be retracted totally inside its shell. During dry and cold weather, the aperture of the shell is sealed with a thin membrane of dried mucus which is known as an epiphragm, which helps the snail retain moisture. During times of activity the head and foot emerge. The head bears four tentacles, the upper two of which have eye-like light sensors. The tentacles can be retracted into the head. The mouth is located beneath the tentacles, and contains a chitinous radula which the snail uses to scrape and manipulate food particles. The garden snail is a herbivore and has a wide range of host plants and provides a food source for many other animals, including small mammals, many bird species, lizards, frogs, centipedes, predatory insects, and predatory terrestrial snails. It is a hermaphrodite, producing both male and female gametes. Reproduction is usually sexual, although self-fertilisation can occur After about two weeks approximately 80 spherical pearly-white eggs are laid into crevices in the topsoil. Up to six batches of 80 eggs can be laid in a year. The young snails take one to two years to reach maturity. It has a strong homing instinct, readily returning to a regular hibernation site. Picture taken at Bromham Bedfordshire on 9th October 2011.

Added:
18th Nov 2011 by Diane Earl

Subjects:
Biology, Environmental Science

Key Stages:
Foundation, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4, Key Stage 4+

Geocode: Bromham Bedfordshrie

Keywords:
snail mollusc invertebrate

Related Links:

EXIF data:

E2B® and E2BN® are registered trade marks and trading names of East of England Broadband Network (Company Registration No. 04649057) | Terms and Conditions