Sea snail

A species of sea snail in its natural habitat: two individuals of the wentletrap Epidendrium billeeanum with a mass of egg capsules in situ on their food source, a red cup coral.
A sea snail Euthria cornea laying eggs

Sea snails are slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with land snails, and with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the absence of a visible shell.

Definition

Sea snail is a common name for a diverse group of marine gastropod mollusks that typically possess a coiled shell (though some lack shells or have reduced ones), move using a muscular foot, and inhabit marine environments ranging from intertidal zones to the deep sea. Sea snails are not a single taxonomic group but include species from several gastropod clades, such as Caenogastropoda, Vetigastropoda, and Heterobranchia.

Anatomy

Shell

The shells of snails are complex and grow at different speeds. The speed of growth is affected by a few variables such as the temperature of the water, depth of the water, food present for the snail, as well as isotopic oxygen levels. By looking at the composition of aragonite in the growth layers of mollusks it can be predicted the size the mollusk shell can reach. Sea snail shells are rarely planispirally coiled and are usually helicoidial, forming a spire with the protoconch preserved at its apex.

Taxonomy

The shell of Syrinx aruanus can be up to 72 cm long.
A 50-second video of snails (most likely Natica chemnitzi and Cerithium stercusmuscaram) feeding on the sea floor in the Gulf of California, Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.
A hermit crab occupying a shell of Acanthina punctulata has been disturbed, and has retracted into the shell, using its claws to bar the entrance in the same way the snail used its operculum.

2005 taxonomy

The following cladogram is an overview of the main clades of living gastropods based on the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), with taxa that contain saltwater or brackish water species marked in boldface (some of the highlighted taxa consist entirely of marine species, but some of them also contain freshwater or land species.)

Uses

By humans

Sea snails are eaten around the world and are a food source of sterols, such as cholesterol, phytosterol, and minerals, which play an important role for human health.

Due to high calcium carbonate content, sea snail shells have potential to be used as raw material in the production of lime.

By non-human animals

Sea otters, elephant seals, harbor seals, and walruses have been recorded eating sea snails. Various species of fish including but not limited to triggerfish, hogfish, and some species of pufferfish also prey on sea snails. In addition, hermit crabs use empty sea snail shells for protection.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Roy, Rupsa; Wang, Yang; Jiang, Shijun (2019). "Growth pattern and oxygen isotopic systematics of modern freshwater mollusks along an elevation transect: Implications for paleoclimate reconstruction". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 532 109243. Bibcode:2019PPP...53209243R. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109243. S2CID 198421960.
  2. ↑ Vermeij, Geerat J. (1975). "Evolution and distribution of left-handed and planispiral coiling in snails". Nature. 254 (5499): 419–420. doi:10.1038/254419a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  3. ↑ "Gastropods". British Geological Survey. Retrieved 2026-08-20.
  4. ↑ Bouchet, Philippe; Rocroi, Jean-Pierre; Frýda, Jiri; Hausdorf, Bernard; Ponder, Winston; Valdés, Ángel & Warén, Anders (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". Malacologia. 47 (1–2). Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks: 1–397. ISBN 3-925919-72-4. ISSN 0076-2997.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  5. ↑ Fiordelmondo, Elisa; Roncarati, Alessandra; Vincenzetti, Silvia; Pinzaru, Simona Cinta; Felici, Alberto (2020). "Sterol and Mineral Profiles of the Common Sea Snail Hinia reticulata and the Long Sea Snail Nassarius mutabilis (Gastropods) Collected from the Middle Adriatic Sea". Current Research in Nutrition & Food Science. 8 (3): 757–764. doi:10.12944/CRNFSJ.8.3.08. hdl:11581/448117. ISSN 2347-467X. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
  6. ↑ Ferraz, Eduardo; Terroso, Denise; Sequeira, Maria Cristina; Azevedo, Maria Celeste; Coroado, João; Monteiro, Carlos; Rocha, Fernando; Gamelas, José A. F. (2024). "A Starting Point on Recycling Land and Sea Snail Shell Wastes to Manufacture Quicklime, Milk of Lime, and Hydrated Lime". Materials. 17 (23): 5683. Bibcode:2024Mate...17.5683F. doi:10.3390/ma17235683. ISSN 1996-1944. PMC 11642569. PMID 39685117.
  7. ↑ Edwards, Trina Julian (2022-03-21). "Which Animals Eat Snails? A Look at Snail Hunters". A-Z Animals. Retrieved 2026-05-16.