"Snail shell" redirects here. For the cave in Tennessee, see Snail Shell Cave. For the They Might Be Giants song, see John Henry (album).
Shells of two different species of sea snail: on the left is the normally sinistral (left-handed) shell of Neptunea angulata, on the right is the normally dextral (right-handed) shell of Neptunea despectaThe shell of a large land snail (probably Helix pomatia) with parts broken off to show the interior structure. 1 – umbilicus 2 – columellar plait 3 – aperture 4 – columella 5 – suture 6 – body whorl 7 – apexFour views of a shell of Arianta arbustorum: Apertural view (top left), lateral view (top right), apical view (bottom left), and umbilical view (bottom right).
The gastropod shell is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, a kind of mollusc. The shell is an exoskeleton, which protects from predators, mechanical damage, and dehydration, but also serves for muscle attachment and calcium storage. Some gastropods appear shell-less (slugs) but may have a remnant within the mantle, or in some cases the shell is reduced such that the body cannot be retracted within it (semi-slug). Some snails also possess an operculum that seals the opening of the shell, known as the aperture, which provides further protection. The study of mollusc shells is known as conchology. The biological study of gastropods, and other molluscs in general, is malacology. Shell morphology terms vary by species group.[1]
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The gastropodshell is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, a kind of mollusc. The shell is an exoskeleton, which protects from predators, mechanical...
external shell big enough that the soft parts can withdraw completely into it. Slugs are gastropods that have no shell or a very small, internal shell; semislugs...
wood. Shell Beach, Western Australia, is a beach which is entirely made up of the shells of the cockle Fragum erugatum. Certain species of gastropod seashells...
of the shell field; dpp controls the shape of the shell, and Hox1 and Hox4 have been implicated in the onset of mineralization. In gastropod embryos...
of some animals Mollusc shell Bivalve shellGastropodshellShell, of a brachiopod Turtle shell Armadillo shell Electron shell or a principal energy level...
tardigrades, as well as the outer shell of certain sponges and the mollusc shell shared by snails, clams, tusk shells, chitons and nautilus. Some vertebrate...
slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that, over evolutionary time, have either entirely lost their shells or have...
freshwater pearl mussel shells are made of nacre. Other mollusc families that have a nacreous inner shell layer include marine gastropods such as the Haliotidae...
the lower the note. Various species of large marine gastropodshells can be turned into blowing shells, but some of the best-known species used are the sacred...
A snail is a shelledgastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name snail...
the shell of many shelled animals, including molluscs and brachiopods. Among molluscs, it is primarily seen in snails and clams, i.e. in gastropods and...
hermit crabs using gastropodshells stretches back to the Late Cretaceous. Before that time, at least some hermit crabs used ammonite shells instead, as shown...
snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic...
apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word slug is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a...
of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod...
snail shells such as Aratan snail and rice snail. Gastropodshells used by Coenobita variabilis As the hermit crabs grow, they must exchange their shell for...
surrounds an opening to an organ or structure. Some plants, fungi, and shelledgastropods have peristomes. In mosses, the peristome is a specialized structure...
found growing on a gastropodshell inhabited by the hermit crab, Pagurus prideaux. The anemone often completely envelops the shell and because of this...
Conchology Hardy's Internet Guide to Marine Gastropods : Shell Catalog book on crafting with Abalone Shell Archived 9 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine...
layer between the muscle and shell in molluscs. In gastropods, for example, the retractor muscles connect to the shell via tendon cells. Muscle cells...
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