land snail closeupArthropods

Land Snail

land snail on christmas fernJust how fast is a snail’s pace? Eight inches per minute, if you’re a snail. You’ll recognize these slow-moving mollusks by their spiral shells. The shell is a permanent, living part of its body. Snails have two pairs of tentacles on their heads— the long ones are for feeling and the short ones have eyes at the tips. Each snail has both male and female reproductive organs, so they can mate with any snail they meet, a convenient feature for such slow-moving creatures. They produce a mucous film that protects their soft bodies and helps them cling to rocks and other surfaces.

Cool Links:

"Repellent containing chili peppers to slow pace of ravenous wolf snail"  This disastrous attempt to control an invasive species by introducing another one has become a cautionary tale.  From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

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