The shell provides essential protection against enemies and various environmental challenges or hazards, and it plays a crucial role in preventing dehydration.

These amazing coiled shells – winding generally in the left direction- are compact and have a low centre of gravity, making them very efficient to carry as they protect their soft-bodied inhabitants from dangerous predators, as well as from the strong tidal movements if they are in the ocean.  Snails may in fact hide in their shells if they feel weak or vulnerable.

Snails  build their own shells, whether they live in water or on land. They stay in the same shells for their entire lives and never stop adding to them in their lifetime which is generally three years but can be up to fifteen!

It is so fascinating that snails are known to use an organ called a mantle to secrete layers of calcium carbonate, which crystallize and harden throughout or over   time although the shell is transparent and soft to begin with.

Snails need calcium to harden their shells from the outset and the first thing a newly hatched snail does is to eat the casing of its own egg to absorb calcium. Some snails will also eat the shells of their unhatched siblings if need be to survive as their shell is very important like armour. Over the first three months, the shell gets thicker and acquires full adult colouration.

It is interesting to note that sometimes the snail may not come out of the shell – they can be just hibernating!

More to follow …