Everyone knows that millions of years ago our planet was completely covered with water. Under these conditions, there were many living organisms. In the process of evolution, snails were the first to land the Earth, becoming leaders for many species. There are more than 200 thousand species of mollusks in the world. They evenly spread across our planet, occupying various parts of the world.
Major types of snails
The types of snails can be enumerated endlessly. We are going to divide these snails based on their habitats:
- terrestrial,
- fresh water,
- marine.
This division helps understand that each group has numerous subtypes.
Terrestrial
The most prominent representatives of terrestrial gastropods are:
- Grape. This species is well known. There is no one who has ever seen this little creature sitting on a leaf or crawling along a path. In our latitudes there are more than 2000 species. They live mainly in places with diverse vegetation. They prefer live in orchards, places with an abundance of berries and high humidity.
- Achatin. Akhatin is a characteristic habitat of the African continent, where there are optimal conditions for their harmonious development. Achatines do not live in our latitudes. Our climate is too harsh for them.
- Garden snail. This is the “sister” of grapevine. The only difference is color shell and body. It lives among agricultural lands, since it prefers vegetables, fruits, young shoots of plants, but brings enormous harm to gardeners and agricultural lands.
- Helix aspersa muller or “small gray”. Its homeland is considered the Mediterranean, Spain, France. However, at different times, seafarers exported these mollusks to other continents. They were taken to swimming as provisions. Their habitats are USA, Middle East, Persian Gulf, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina. Helix is a species that adapts perfectly to different conditions. Therefore, they are most common in the world.
- Helix pomatia Linne or lunar. It lives in Germany and France, but the French call it “Burgundy”. It is edible. Only Burgundians enjoy greater popularity due to their taste characteristics. They are artificially grown.
- Helix nemoralis or “woody”. Prefers Spain, settled in Central Europe and the States. Its habitat zone is woodland, because this snail prefers eating dead plants.
- Helix lucorum. It prefers a warm maritime climate, therefore the habitat is the coast of Crimea, Italy and Turkey.
This list is the most common varieties of fresh water snails. They are united by external similarity, and share the same habitat conditions. Freshwater snails live even with a minimum level of oxygen and eat everything. In nature, they live in extremely polluted water, in abundant vegetation, with a small flow.
- Neretina. It is a fresh-water snail, which is launched into an aquarium because of the colorful shell. The place of its birth is Africa and there it fills all the existing reservoirs.
- Helena is a predator. Its habitat is Southeast Asia, freshwater bodies.
- Bitiniya. This beautiful spiral mollusk lives in the fresh waters of the Eurasian and American continents.
- Ampularia. A bright representative of aquarium inhabitants. Freshwater snail is found in the Amazon and delivered for maintenance in aquariums because of the beautiful appearance.
- Tilomelaniya. It is a representative of the aquarium inhabitants, because it is very bright and unusual. Its homeland is called Indonesia.
These representatives live in various places, but have found popularity with aquarium lovers. There are about 90,000 of kinds of marine mollusks. They inhabit the shallows and oceans and can have different colors.
- Yantina. It is also called «fragile» snail. It lives in tropical climate. It is able to swim over long distances with the help of bubbles.
- Murex. Its incredibly colorful shell attracts the eye of collectors. The largest representative is distributed on the reefs near Southeast Asia, and can be found in Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
- Sea butterfly. This amazingly beautiful snail lives in arctic waters. It is not afraid of low water temperatures. It became famous for its unusual structure. In the process of moving, its moving leg performs flaps similar to the movements of the wings of an insect.
- Language flamingo. a snail with an unusual name and a no less unusual spotty color is found in the waters of the Atlantic. It attracts attention of divers with a bright color of body, remembering for a long time.
- Spanish dancer. It represents the list of the top five colorful mollusks from our list. It has bright body color and lives in shallow water among tropical reefs.
Some marine inhabitants are deadly to humans. Be careful during the contact with these snails.