Shop locally in Cortland, NY! Cinch Art Space carries my snail-y items. Dec Nov 11, What Are Land Snails? Services Gallery Store Links Contact. Snails in Ecosystem Land snails serve an important role in the ecosystem. Upset that balance by removing them and we can do a lot of harm. Thrushes in particular thrive on them! Slug blood is green. There is a fascinating article about the reasons why many invertebrates have green blood here.
Slugs can live for about 6 years, but their eggs can lie dormant for years before hatching when conditions are right. Also they can have up to 27, teeth. The actual stuff of nightmares BUT — they do eat decomposing vegetation so are important ecologically. Indeed, some go even further as reported in the early spring of when Dr Ian Bedford, Head of Entomology at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, noticed an unusually high number of slugs in his garden and observed they were not just eating plants but other things too such as dog excrement and dead animals.
After some further research and collaboration with Dr Les Noble, University of Aberdeen, it was discovered that these were Spanish slugs, Arion vulgaris , and this was the first mass observation of this species within the UK. To date there has been only one record of Spanish slugs in Birmingham and the Black Country — so please keep a look out! Please find an alternative — the poison from slug pellets enters the food chain and kills hedgehogs, who consider slugs and snails as a tasty treat.
Hedgehogs are natural pest control, there are lots of ways you can entice them to your garden. There are records on our database of species including 3 Species of limpet, 17 species of mussel, 20 species of slug and 65 species of snail 45 species of which are freshwater snails. While some of them are only a few inches long and often weigh only a few ounces, there are land snails that reach almost 12 inches, like the Giant African Land Snail, a species endemic to Africa.
Certainly, land snails are incredibly slow. Their forward speed depends on the species, but usually, it is between 0. Its slowness is another feature that has made it famous, and some people have known how to play with it. For example, in many places in the UK, snail racing is organized! Can you imagine waiting for them to reach the finish line?
It does not last as long as it may seem. While moving, snails leave behind a trail of slime, a lubricant they produce to allow them to go on any terrain without injuring its body. They use their sense of smell to help them find food being their most important sensory organ. You will find that snails are most active at night.
They may come out during the early morning hours as well. The biological features of snails are fascinating. For example, most are hermaphrodites, which means that a single snail has male and female reproductive organs at the same time. A few weeks after mating and laying eggs, the hatchlings emerge from their egg, small and defenseless against many predators that sneak around, such as beetles, birds, turtles and even other snails.
There are exceptions. Some species have sex differentiation, so every individual is either male or female. The life expectancy of snails in the wild is about 3 to 7 years, but in captivity, they can live up to years or even more. Snail shell is made of calcium carbonate and keeps growing as long as the snail grows.
They keep adding more calcium carbonate to the edge until the snail reaches adult size. Humans have eaten land snails for centuries, although not everywhere. They are common in gastronomy, in some parts of Europe like France and Spain where they are considered a delicacy. However, their consumption must be careful, since some snails harbor parasites that, once in the human body or that of other animals, can cause severe diseases. Therefore, handling land snails, especially those found in the wild, should observe the proper hygiene precautions to avoid dangerous diseases like meningitis among others.
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