A Hotlist on Gastropods

A Hotlist on Gastropods
An Internet Hotlist on Gastropods

created by Helen Feng
Marymount High School

Introduction | Snails | Slugs of Land and Sea | Other Gastros

Introduction

Welcome to Helen's Hotlist on the amazing variety of gastropods! The class of Gastropods belongs to the same phylum as octopi, squids, and clams—the Phylum Mollusca. Gastropods, meaning 'stomach foot', is the largest class of mollusks. The nickname is due to the fact that they literally crawl on their stomachs. Gastropods contain a diverse variety of species such as snails, slugs, abalones, limpets, cowries and many others. Many species have coiled shells while others have reduced shells and some, none at all. Another characteristic of the gastropods is called torsion or the twisting of body organs. Instead of releasing waste in the back of the animal’s body, the internal organs twist back to the front and dispel wastes near the mouth! This is only one of many intriguing facts about these mesmerizing class of animals.
Perhaps the most well known gastropods are snails and slugs. Therefore in my links, I have provided ample websites to pay honor to these dominating creatures. Of course to also emphasize the variety of gastropods I have many others devoted to the diverse species such as limpets and cowries. These beautiful animals have held the fascination of humans for centuries. Did you know that cowries shells were used as money in ancient Africa due to its beauty? While many know the common garden snails as pests, few know of the amazing array of colors and design of sea slugs. Through my links I’ll try to introduce these remarkable creatures ranging from our own backyard to the tall everglades in Florida. Hopefully you too will shed the prevailing stereotypes against these creatures and appreciate them as part of the unending beauty of this world.

The Internet Resources

Snails

Snails for Kids and Teachers - This site, as the title suggests, is a great site for teachers and elementary school students. It gives information on two types of snails: garden and pond. It is very comprehensive and a great site for some basic information. Did you know that snails are hermaphrodites? This site also consists of a variety of snail releated activities such as Stories, Poems, Coloring Activites and Lesson Plans.
All About Snails W/ Great Animation - This site is literally all about snails. It includes information from the snails anatomy to fun snail facts. It is also a teacher friendly page as it provides a teacher's guide with fun activities for your students like worksheets and crossword puzzles. From the Fun Facts section I've learned that garden snails is cooked and eaten as a delicacy called escargot and March 24th is National Escargot Day. I highly recommend this site for teachers, students or those who simply love snails. The format and animation are all very cute and organized.
Tree Snails - Liguus - Needing some basic information on these beautifully colored tree snails? This site will provide you with all the basics that you need. It provides information on appearance, feeding, mating...and even how to tell which trees harbor these amazing snails. It also has a short paragraph on the rescue mission to prevent Liguus from extinction. Can you believe that Liguus can be only found in Everglades National Park in Florida?
Snails - This is a great site on snails in general. It has all the information and it does go in depth about many of the subjects it talks about it. It focuses on different types of snails from land to sea. There are also some great pictures and diagrams illustrating snail shells to a detailed snail's anatomy. Unbelieveable it has links to discuss in detail topics of interest as such as different species and snail farming. This site is definitely a site for research papers as well as snail lovers. One interesting fact from this website? Heliciculture is snail farming in French!

Slugs of Land and Sea

Sea Slugs Forum - For those who believes that sea slugs is their life's obsession or if you have a major research project on sea slugs, here is the perfect site. It includes information on every species of sea slugs imaginable and there's ample information in every section. Since it is a forum, there's a variety of information posted by the webmaster as well as the participants. Seaching for specific information might be difficult due to the variety of questions asked and the site is not organized enough for easy access. But with some patience, a wealth of information will be found. For example, it gives an interesting article on sea slugs who have developed the ability to photosynthesis with the chlorplasts from its algal food!
Sea Slug Photos - Love some pictures on the beautiful variety of sea slugs? Here is a site simply filled with pictures. Sadly for those of you who are looking for some information on these sea slugs, no captions are provided. However if you would like some visual representation on specific species of sea slugs, this is the perfect site for you. Did you know that a species of slugs are called Fried-Egg Sea Slugs even though they are blue, black and yellow?
Background Info on Nudibranchs - This site contains mainly scientific background information of nudibranchs. Surprisingly the site is very easy to comprehend and great for research papers. It provides characteristics, anatomy, development and feeding habits of nudibranchs. From visiting this site I've learned that some nudibranchs protect themselves by releasing a highly acidic solution similar to the cnidarians.
Nudibranchs and Pictures - Here is a site devoted to a gallery of pictures on nudibranchs according to their family and genus. There is a short description about each family/genus with specific species and pictures following. It is a great website for seeing the different variety of these beautiful 'butterflies of the sea'. Simply imagine one family, such as Chromodorididae, can consist upto 360 species ranging from the Indo-Pacific to the Mediterranean!!!
Land Slugs - This is a highly scientific site with a wide range on information on land slugs. It also provides diagrams of the slug's anatomy and sensory receptors. It is a great site for detailed biological information, and it is not as difficult to understand as one might believe. The information are presented in a clear and conscise manner. In fact, froming reading this site I've learned that slugs have evolved from snails and some species are called half slugs because their characteristics are between those of a snail and a slug!

Other Gastros

Molluscs--Limpets - This site covers the basics of limpets especially on body design. It contains a labled picture of limpet body parts as well as showing how the water travels through the limpet carrying in food and carrying out wastes. The site is not very comprehensive as it does not cover other important topics such as habitats, feeding and reproduction of limpets. But if you are looking for information on the anatomy of limpets, this site is the one for you!
Obviously...Cowries - This is called addiction and for you fellow addicts, here is the ultimate site for collecting and learning about cowries shells. It is amazing the amount of information that is avaliable about cowries. The site not only offers descriptions and detailed images, but Felix Lorenz also have shells up for sell. Utterly astounding. This is a simply the place for all you need to know about cowries. From Umbilia living in Australia to an extreme species of androyensis in Madagascar, it is all inside!!!
Whelks of the British Isles - This site is part of the British Marine Life Study Society and it is great for simple background information. Sadly it does not go in depth about the whelks of the British Isles. It discuesses some basic facts such as appearance, feeding and reproduction. In fact whelks feed on oysters by drilling a hole into the shell until they can scrape out the flesh!
Abalones - This site is mainly about raising/caring for abalones in your personal aquarium, but it does give some background information on this gastropod as well. For example it explains the environment, natural and artifical, where abalones would thrive in. I have learned that the greatest number of these marine life live off the coast of Asutraila and Japan. This site goes in depth about certain aspects about growing abalones such as feeding and breeding. This is a great site in those who are interesting in having their own abalones or those who needs some information on taking care of marine life.

Content by Helen Feng, haellience02@hotmail.com
http://www.kn.sbc.com/wired/fil/pages/listsnailsahe.html
Last revised Thu Mar 11 21:33:38 US/Pacific 2004