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Snails are a fascinating and surprisingly diverse group of animals, with over 43,000 known species and many more are constantly being discovered. Technically speaking, a snail is classified as any gastropod that has a shell. But what do snails eat? Also, how do they eat?
Here, we’ll take a closer look at everything snails eat, from land snails to marine and freshwater snails. We’ll also look at how they use a unique feature known as radula, a structure made up of thousands of tiny teeth to break down and eat their food.
What do land snails eat?
Land snails are classified as any type of snail that lives primarily on land, such as the common garden snail, Hornu aspersum… Although many land snail species sometimes alternate between terrestrial and underwater habitats, their key characteristic is that they spend most of their time on land.
Interestingly, land snails can eat almost anything their soft little bodies can digest, from small insects to plants and animal waste. Some species are strictly carnivorous or herbivorous, but most extreme Omnivores that can feed on a huge variety of organic materials, even if they are dead and decaying.
Here is a list of foods commonly eaten by land snails:
- Vegetables of all kinds
- Fruits of all kinds
- Grains
- Mushrooms
- Seaweed
- Herbs and Leaves
- Tree bark
- Flowers
- worms
- Livestock waste
- Rotting vegetation
- Other snails
- Insects
How do land snails eat?
Land snails move from place to place in search of food, flexing the muscles on their long, unique leg. They remove mucus from it to allow them to move over all kinds of rough surfaces without drying out. When faced with something to eat, they use a structure attached to their jaw known as a radula.
The radula is like a tongue with many tiny, sharp teeth called denticles covering its surface. Land snails use it to scoop and cut food into small pieces before swallowing! Research on radula function has shown that snails are even able to regulate the scraping force of the radula depending on what they eat!
What do sea snails eat?
Sea snails are arguably even more diverse than their land-based counterparts, with tens of thousands of known species in various sizes and shapes.
Ocean-dwelling snails use their gills to breathe underwater and spend all their time there, although there are several species that can also breathe air using a single lung. Most sea snails have spiral-shaped shells inside which they can hide as a defense mechanism.
Most of the known species of sea snails are herbivores, meaning they feed on plant material underwater. However, there are several species, such as the venomous cone snail, that also eat meat. Various foods that sea snails eat include:
How do sea snails eat?
Most herbivorous sea snails also possess radula, which they use to scrape algae, algae, and other plants from rocks and other surfaces on the ocean floor. Thousands of tiny denticles on the radula slowly scrape off the plant material and then cut it into bite-sized pieces small enough to fit in the esophagus.
However, carnivorous sea snails are slightly different. Many, such as the cone snail, use poison or other unique methods to get rid of food, such as the unique proboscis of the moon snail.
Moon snails tend to hide in the sand until an animal, such as a bivalve mollusk or other unfortunate snail, passes by. Once the prey gets close enough, the moon snail will quickly envelop the animal before drilling a hole in it with its sharp proboscis. They then use their proboscis to suck out the animal’s organs and flesh so they can eat!
Other carnivorous snails, such as cone snails, use their modified radula to inject powerful venom into their prey before devouring it and slowly eating it alive.
What do freshwater snails eat?
Freshwater snails are the third major group of snails found in bodies of water such as lakes and rivers. There are about 5,000 species of freshwater snails, most of which are part of Pulmonata or Prozobranchia subclasses.
Most species of freshwater snails such as Pomacea maculata (also known as apple snails) are primarily herbivores, although some are detritivores as well, meaning they will also collect decaying plants and animals. Some of the foods they eat include:
- Algae (again, a lot!)
- Bacteria
- Living and decaying plant matter
- Aquatic vegetation such as water salad
- Dead and decaying animals (like other snails!)
How do freshwater snails eat?
Freshwater snails feed in the same way as most species of sea snails. They use their radula to slowly remove traces of algae, bacteria, and other organic material from rocks and plants.
Most freshwater snails feed on all kinds of organic matter, both dead and living, throughout the day. Like their ocean dwellers, they mainly feed on a variety of algae and vegetation.
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