What are gastropods?
Gastropods belong to Phylum Mollusca. Gastropods include shelled snails as well as slugs without shells.There are about 30,000 known species of gastropods. They are thus the largest group of molluscs. Features: The snails that most of us are familiar with typically have a large muscular foot supporting a visceral mass (the rest of the body and internal organs). In most snails, the entire body can be retracted into a protective shell. ‘Gatropoda’ means ‘stomach foot’. Gastropods indeed have a large obvious foot. Most creep along on their foot, but Conch snails can hop! Shell facts: Many molluscs produce a shell. A snail makes its own shell and stays in the same shell all its life. It does not moult its shell like a crab does. You can only remove a snail from its shell by killing it. Shells sold as souvenirs are mostly obtained by harvesting living snails and killing them. A shell is made mostly of calcium carbonate and shell material is added to both the outer edge as well as existing s
