Snails
Gastropoda
EOL Text
The Class Gastropoda includes snails and slugs. Most gastropods have a single, usually spirally coiled shell, but the shell is lost or reduced in some groups. Many snails have an operculum, a plate that closes the gastropod's opening. Shelled gastropods have mantles, while those without shells have reduced to absent mantles.
Gastropods have a muscular foot used for creeping in most species. In some, the foot is modified for swimming or burrowing. Most gastropods have a well-developed head that includes eyes at the end of one to two pairs of tentacles.
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| Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2012, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
| Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Gastropoda/ |
Genomic DNA is available from 1 specimen with morphological vouchers housed at National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research
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Gastropods are found in freshwater systems, oceans, and on land wherever there is sufficient moisture.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial ; saltwater or marine ; freshwater
Terrestrial Biomes: chaparral ; forest ; rainforest ; scrub forest ; mountains
Aquatic Biomes: lakes and ponds; rivers and streams; coastal
Wetlands: marsh ; swamp ; bog
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| Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2012, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
| Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Gastropoda/ |
Genomic DNA is available from 2 specimens with morphological vouchers housed at Florida Museum of Natural History
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Gastropods, the only mollusks with terrestrial representatives, occur in nearly every habitat type. On land they’re found in wet and dry areas, including deserts; from low to high elevations; from tropical to polar latitudes (as high as there is humic material and leaf litter). Inland aquatic habitats range from puddles to lakes and rivers, fresh to salt water, and include sulfurous hot springs. In the ocean they occupy all habitat types, from deep ocean basins and hydrothermal vent communities to high intertidal splash zones and from warm tropical waters to cold polar seas.
(Ruppert et al., 2004; University of California Museum of Paleontology - The Gastropoda; Griffiths, 2010; J. Nekola, personal communication, January 17, 2011)
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| Rights holder/Author | Soulanille, Elaine, Soulanille, Elaine, EOL Rapid Response Team |
| Source | http://eolspecies.lifedesks.org/pages/43551 |
Genomic DNA is available from 6 specimens with morphological vouchers housed at Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo
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| Rights holder/Author | Text can be freely copied and altered, as long as original author and source are properly acknowledged. |
| Source | http://www.oglf.org/catalog/details.php?id=T00151 |
Gastropods feed on very small things. Most of them scrape or brush particles from surfaces of rocks, seaweeds, animals that don't move, and other objects. For feeding, gastropods use a radula, a hard plate that has teeth.
Gastropod feeding habits are extremely varied, although most species make use of a radula in some aspect of their feeding behavior. Some graze, some browse, some feed on plankton, some are scavengers or detritivores, some are active carnivores.
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| Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2012, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
| Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Gastropoda/ |
Genomic DNA is available from 1 specimen with morphological vouchers housed at Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Text can be freely copied and altered, as long as original author and source are properly acknowledged. |
| Source | http://www.oglf.org/catalog/details.php?id=T00151 |
Animal / rests in
metacercarial cyst of Brachylaimus fuscatus rests inside Gastropoda
Animal / parasite / endoparasite
tetracotyle larva of Cotylurus cornutus endoparasitises Gastropoda
Animal / parasite / endoparasite
larva of Ravinia pernix endoparasitises Gastropoda
Animal / parasite
Riccardoella limacum parasitises Gastropoda
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| Rights holder/Author | BioImages, BioImages - the Virtual Fieldguide (UK) |
| Source | http://www.bioimages.org.uk/html/Gastropoda.htm |
Gastropoda (gastropoda) is prey of:
Leptasterias
Pisaster
Rana pipiens
Anura
Haplochromis johnstoni
Barbus eurystomus
Haplocrhomis mola
Asteroidea
Actinopterygii
Homo sapiens
Alburnus alburnus
Gomphus
Aythya affinis
Hirudinea
Ambystoma maculatum
Ambystoma laterale
Ambystoma tremblayi
Ambystoma tigrinum
Notophthalmus viridescens
Concholepas concholepas
Sicyases sanguineus
Heliaster helianthus
Larus dominicanus
Clarias gariepinus
Haplochromis darlingi
bleak
Geococcyx californianus
Chondrichthyes
Scombridae
Carangidae
decomposers/microfauna
phytoplankton
organic stuff
benthic autotrophs
Blenniidae
Cheloniidae
Octopus
Cephalopoda
Decapoda
Stomatopoda
Anomura
Gastropoda
Priapula
Polychaeta
Ophiuroidea
Cancer
Brachyura
Echinoidea
Margarops fuscus
Margarops fuscatus
Anolis gingivinus
Anolis pogus
Based on studies in:
USA: Washington (Littoral, Rocky shore)
Canada: Manitoba (Forest)
Malawi, Lake Nyasa (Lake or pond)
USA: Alaska, Aleutian Islands (Coastal)
Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands shelf (Reef)
USA: Iowa, Mississippi River (River)
England, River Thames (River)
USA, Northeastern US contintental shelf (Coastal)
USA: Michigan (Lake or pond)
Chile, central Chile (Littoral, Rocky shore)
Africa, Lake McIlwaine (Lake or pond)
This list may not be complete but is based on published studies.
- B. A. Menge and J. P. Sutherland, Species diversity gradients: synthesis of the roles of predation, competition and temporal heterogeneity, Am. Nat. 110(973):351-369, from p. 360 (1976).
- G. Fryer, The trophic interrelationships and ecology of some littoral communities of Lake Nyasa, Proc. London Zool. Soc. 132:153-281, from p. 218 (1959).
- C. A. Simenstad, J. A. Estes, K. W. Kenyon, Aleuts, sea otters, and alternate stable-state communities, Science 200:403-411, from p. 404 (1978).
- K. H. Mann, R. H. Britton, A. Kowalczewski, T. J. Lack, C. P. Mathews and I. McDonald, Productivity and energy flow at all trophic levels in the River Thames, England. In: Productivity Problems of Freshwaters, Z. Kajak and A. Hillbricht-Ilkowska, Eds. (P
- C. A. Carlson, Summer bottom fauna of the Mississippi River, above Dam 19, Keokuk, Iowa, Ecology 49(1):162-168, from p. 167 (1968).
- H. M. Wilbur, Competition, predation, and the structure of the Ambystoma-Rana sylvatica community, Ecology 53:3-21, from p. 14 (1972).
- J. C. Castilla, Perspectivas de investigacion en estructura y dinamica de communidades intermareales rocosas de Chile Central. II. Depredadores de alto nivel trofico, Medio Ambiente 5(1-2):190-215, from p. 203 (1981).
- B. E. Marshall, The fish of Lake McIlwaine. In Lake McIlwaine: the eutrophication and recovery of a tropical man-made lake (J. A. Thornton, Ed.) Vol 49 Monographia Biologicae, D. W. Junk Publishers, The Hague, pp. 156-188, from p. 180 (1982).
- K. H. Mann, Case history: The River Thames. In: River Ecology and Man (R. T. Oglesby, C. A. Carlson, J. A. McCann, Eds.), Academic Press, New York and London, pp. 215-232 (1972), from p. 224.
- R. D. Bird, Biotic communities of the Aspen Parkland of central Canada, Ecology, 11:356-442, from p. 393 (1930).
- R. D. Bird, Biotic communities of the Aspen Parkland of central Canada, Ecology, 11:356-442, from p. 406 (1930).
- Link J (2002) Does food web theory work for marine ecosystems? Mar Ecol Prog Ser 230:19
- Opitz S (1996) Trophic interactions in Caribbean coral reefs. ICLARM Tech Rep 43, Manila, Philippines
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| Rights holder/Author | Cynthia Sims Parr, Joel Sachs, SPIRE |
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