The gastropods portalGastropods (/ˈɡæstrəpɒdz/), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (/ɡæsˈtrɒpədə/). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and from the land. There are many thousands of species of sea snails and slugs, as well as freshwater snails, freshwater limpets, land snails and slugs. The class Gastropoda is a diverse and highly successful class of mollusks within the phylum Mollusca. It contains a vast total of named species, second only to the insects in overall number. The fossil history of this class goes back to the Late Cambrian. , 721 families of gastropods are known, of which 245 are extinct and appear only in the fossil record, while 476 are currently extant with or without a fossil record. Gastropoda (previously known as univalves and sometimes spelled "Gasteropoda") are a major part of the phylum Mollusca, and are the most highly diversified class in the phylum, with 65,000 to 80,000 living snail and slug species. The anatomy, behavior, feeding, and reproductive adaptations of gastropods vary significantly from one clade or group to another, so stating many generalities for all gastropods is difficult. The class Gastropoda has an extraordinary diversification of habitats. Representatives live in gardens, woodland, deserts, and on mountains; in small ditches, great rivers, and lakes; in estuaries, mudflats, the rocky intertidal, the sandy subtidal, the abyssal depths of the oceans, including the hydrothermal vents, and numerous other ecological niches, including parasitic ones. Although the name "snail" can be, and often is, applied to all the members of this class, commonly this word means only those species with an 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 are gastropods that have a shell that they can partially retreat into but not entirely. The marine shelled species of gastropods include species such as abalone, conches, periwinkles, whelks, and numerous other sea snails that produce seashells that are coiled in the adult stage—though in some, the coiling may not be very visible, for example in cowries. In a number of families of species, such as all the various limpets, the shell is coiled only in the larval stage, and is a simple conical structure after that. (Full article...) Selected articleLobatus gigas (previously known as Strombus gigas), known commonly as the queen conch, is a species of very large edible sea snail, a marine gastropod in the family of true conchs, Strombidae. Lobatus gigas is one of the largest mollusks native to the tropical "Caribbean faunal zone" of the Western Atlantic Ocean, from Bermuda to Brazil. Other common names include pink conch, caracol reina, caracol rosa, caracol rosado, caracol de pala, cobo, botuto, guarura, and lambí. This large herbivorous gastropod lives in seagrass beds. The adult animal has a very large, solid shell with a characteristic pink-colored aperture and a flared thick outer lip, which is absent in younger specimens. The anatomy of L. gigas is similar to other Strombidae snails, with a long snout, two eyestalks with additional sensory tentacles, a strong foot and a corneous sickle shaped operculum. Lobatus gigas has a few commensals (such as slipper snails, porcelain crabs and cardinal fishes), parasites (coccidian infections) and predators, including other mollusks, starfish, crustaceans and vertebrates (fish, sea turtles and humans). Its meat is consumed by humans in a wide variety of dishes, and the shell, which is sold as a souvenir and used as a decorative object in contemporary times, was also utilized to fabricate utensils by Native Americans and Caribbean natives in the past. (Read more...) Selected biography
George Washington Tryon, Jr. (1838-1888) was an American malacologist who worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. He was largely responsible for the construction of new buildings for the Academy, especially, in 1866, a section for malacology. In 1865, together with a group of American malacologists, he founded (and financed) the American Journal of Conchology. This ended in 1872.
In 1869 Tryon became the conservator in the malacological section. In 1879 he started the Manual of Conchology; structural and systematic; with illustrations of the species, volume 1, series 1. When he died, nine volumes of the first series had been published. After his death Henry Augustus Pilsbry continued this work for the next 47 years. (Read more...)
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Selected imageThe shell of the Venus comb murex Murex pecten has an extremely long siphonal canal. The shell has over one hundred spines, which provide protection from predation, and prevent the snail from sinking in the soft mud. This image shows three views of one shell: an apertural view on the right, abapertural view on the left, and apical view at the bottom. Lists of gastropods
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Related portalsSubcategoriesCategories about gastropods: Request to editors: please do not create any more categories of gastropods by country. Instead create list articles, article with a list of the marine or non-marine gastropods of whichever country or area you are interested in. We would also like to empty and delete the two remaining country categories we have, adding that information to list articles instead. Thank you. Things to do
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