Terrestrial Snail Anatomy

Angela Pecsi
April 9, 2015

I find snails fascinating creatures. Their interesting anatomy is very different from
other animals in the world. The classification of the land snail, Allogona profunda, belongs as
follows: Domain: Eukarya, Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Mollusca, Class: Gastropoda,
Order: Pulmonata, Suborder: Stylommatophora, Family: Polygyridae, Genus: Allogona,
Species: Allogona profunda.
The snails of the genus Allogona have few common characteristics between them.
The shells of each of the species are umbilicate, meaning that they have a central depression,
have a reflected white peristome, the fringe of toothlike appendages surrounding the mouth
of the invertebrate, and no more than a single, low blunt or, in other words, not sharp tooth.
Gastropods are able to adapt to a variety of living conditions and they do not require
large amounts of food to survive. They are the largest and most varied class of Mollusks.
Mollusks are invertebrate animals with soft unsegmented body, covered with a shell. The
shells of land snails serve as a way to protect them from the environment and predators. They
are made up of calcium carbonate and therefore, become very strong and remain that way as
the snails consume a full calcium diet. They can spend a long period of time inside when the
weather is hot and dry. Otherwise, their moist bodies will dry out. The shell of a mollusk is
secreted in two or three different layers. The outer layer is called the periostracum (composed
of protein); the middle layer is called the prismatic layer (mixed of organic materials); and
the inner layer is called the nacreous layer, which includes thin sheets of calcium carbonate
alternating with organic material. The mantle cavity is a space between the mantle and the
foot that opens to the outside with the functions of gas exchange, excretion, elimination of
digestive wastes, and release of reproductive products.
Another common feature to different kinds of land snails is their ability to enter into a
dormant state called estivation. During hot or dry periods, snails will seek some form of
shelter; it can be digging into the ground, crawling under a rock, or even climbing up a tree,
pulling their bodies deep inside their shells afterwards. They secrete a membrane known as
epiphragm to prevent water loss, which temporarily seals off the shells opening.
Other thing to consider when talking about molluscs is that they are triploblastic.
They possess a small or pericardial cavity called coelom surrounding the heart and the
gonads, which arises in the mesoderm and is lined by the sheet of mesoderm known as the
peritoneum.
Snails leave a trail of mucus while they are moving. This mucus acts as a powerful
lubricant to reduce friction against the surface, and this is why they are able to move upside
down, around corners, etc. Mostly all gastropods possess a flattened foot, usually ciliated,
and covered with gland cells. The smallest ones use cilia to propel themselves over the
mucous trail, while larger ones use waves of muscular contraction that move over the foot.
These animals have one or two sets of tentacles that are on top of the head. For
species with both sets of tentacles, the eyes are present on the longer set and smell in the
shorter set. They have the ability to retract them. Their mouth possesses a radula, a rasping
structure which consists of a chitinous belt and rows of posteriorly curved teeth, and it is
supported by an odontophore cartilage and operated by musculature. These mechanisms
contribute to pass the food to the digestive track.
Snails have a very small cerebral ganglion that is known to have four distinct sections
on it. An interesting fact is some research has shown that they have more ability for
associative thinking, which is based on conditioning and experiences that they take part in.
These type of creatures are primarily herbivores, meaning that they include in their
diet a variety of items found in their natural habitat, such as plants, vegetables (like carrots,
lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli), and fruits (like apples). However, certain foods (such as

potatoes) may cause their organs not to work properly. Herbicides or pesticides used on
gardens of people who may consider them as agricultural pests may kill them. The excrement
they produce is the color of the food they consume. Food is trapped in mucous strings and
then incorporated into a mucoid mass called the protostyle, which extends to the stomach and
is rotated to the cilia (microscopic, hairlike processes on the exposed surfaces of eukaryotic
cells that contain a core bundle of microtubules and can perform repeated beating
movements), which line the style sac churn the stomach contents and form this long foodladen mucous mass. There is a digestive gland in the visceral mass that releases enzymes and
acid into the stomach, then, the food trapped on the protostyle is freed and digested. Wastes
form fecal pellets inside the intestine.
The body of a mollusk is composed of two regions, the head-foot and the visceral
mass. The former contains the mouth, specific nervous and sensory structures, and an
elongated foot, which I consider interesting because it is used for attaching to surfaces and
locomotion. The second contains the organs of digestion, circulation, reproduction, and
excretion.
Moreover, Torsion is a 180 counterclockwise twisting of the visceral mass, mantle,
and mantle cavity that positions the gills, anus, and openings from the excretory and
reproductive systems, and also twists the digestive tract into a U shape. A second advantage
of torsion is concerns of a previous opening of the mantle cavity that allows clean water from
in front of the snail to enter the mantle cavity. The third advantage of this action is that the
snail is more sensitive to stimuli coming from the direction in which it is moving.
Talking about maintenance functions, in land snails (or pulmonates) the gills are lost
or reduced. However, they have a richly vascular mantle for gas exchange between blood and
air. They have an open circulatory system. It consists typically of a heart with a single auricle
and a single ventricle. In addition, the blood of molluscs acts as a hydraulic skeleton
consisting of fluid under pressure that may be confined to tissue spaces in order to extend the
body structures and to support the whole body. Their nervous system is characterized by six
ganglia. Their eyes are located at the end of the tentacles. They are basically pits of
photoreceptor cells or lens and cornea.
About the reproduction as well as development of land snails, they are monoecious,
applying for internal crossfertilization (or Allogamy), the fusion of male and female gametes
(sex cells) from different individuals of the same species, where copulation may result in
mutual sperm transfer. A penis has evolved from a fold of the body wall, and the portions of
the female reproductive tract have become glandular and secrete mucus, protective jelly, or a
capsule around the fertilized egg. The eggs are shed singly or could be in masses for external
fertilization. Internally fertilized eggs are deposited in gelatinous strings or masses. Their
eggs are deposited in moist environments such as forest-floor leaf litter, and a calcareous
shell may encapsule them.
Humans have to keep in mind that snails can get infected by ingesting larvae. These
larvae are able to mature in snails not becoming adult worms. In some cultures, snails are
commonly eaten. The people can get infected by eating raw or undercooked snails that are
infected with a parasite or by consuming raw food (such as lettuce) that contains a small
snail.
I can conclude that terrestrial snails are interesting invertebrate, bilateral,
triploblastic, protostanous, coelomates creatures with no segmentation. Their mantle
contributes in their respiration, excretion (nitrogenous waste), and reproduction and have a
cavity with gills. The radula is their rasping tongue. Their body is composed of two parts, the
head/foot and the visceral mass. They are bilateral. They have a deterministic spiral cleavage.

They possess an open circulatory system. They display an important feature which is known
as torsion, so their bodies can twist 180 in development (trematodes). And many of them can
be intermediate hosts for parasites.

Literature Cited
Stephen A. Miller and John P. Harley. 2013. Molluscan Success. Zoology. Ninth Edition.
Chapter 11. Pg. 182-203.
Garry Hamilton. 2010. Giant African Land Snail Achatina fulica. Super
Species The Creatures That Will Dominate The Planet. Part Two:
Equilibrium Lost, Chapter 9. Pg. 111-122.

Image under GNU license.

Author Original by Wikimedia Commons User Al2, English captions and other edits by Jeff
Dahl