Snails are common in backyard gardens.
Snails are members of the Gastropoda class, which means that they possess coiled shells during their adult stage. There are three basic varieties of snails, categorized by their typical habitat. Snails live in many different environments, including the deepest depths of the seas, deserts, ditches and the common backyard garden.
The Facts
Snails and slugs share a similar appearance, though slugs do not possess hard shells like snails do. All snails have coiled shells and yellow, brown, green or gray bodies. Snails have retractable and flexible stalks connecting their eyes to their bodies. They use a file-like tongue to rasp holes into their food, causing plant destruction in their wake. Snails are not insects, but are more closely related to mollusks such as oysters and clams.
Land Snails
Land snails are terrestrial pulmonates, so they possess a lung and rely on air to survive. Some land snails are amphibious, capable of traveling between land and salt or freshwater. Common slugs occurring in gardens and yards include the brown garden snail, the European garden snail and Decollate snail. The Decollate snail is the most distinct, featuring a cone-shaped shell.
Freshwater Snails
Freshwater snails are mollusks like clams and mussels that live in freshwater. There are approximately 4,000 freshwater gastropod species, according to classification efforts up to 2011. Freshwater snails are commonly kept as pets in aquariums as they can help manage algae, though they may also damage plants. The apple snail is an example of a freshwater snail that is commonly kept as an aquarium pet.
Sea Snails
Sea snails primarily live in marine or saltwater environments belonging to the gastropod mollusk class. Gastropods that do not bear shells include the nudibranch, sea hare and sea slug, but these are not sea snails. Sea snails vary the greatest in shell shape and size, and some sea snails even have hinged shells more closely resembling bivalves than typical snails. Sea snails can inhabit a variety of habitats including both brackish and full marine environments, shallow and deep waters alike.
Tags: snails snails, coiled shells, common backyard, commonly kept, Decollate snail, garden snail