Snail is a mollusk that belongs to the class Gastropod. As of now, there are more than thousands of species of snails that are adapted to the ground, freshwater, and in the sea. These animals with no necks are one of the oldest animals on the planet that comes in different colors, here is the list of 10 colourful snails in the world,
Colourful Snails
1. Candy Cane Snail
Candy Cane Snail’s scientific name is Liguus virgineus is a tree-living snail native to the the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. The distinctive conical shell is between 30 to 60 cm, howvever, the background of the shell is white and approximately 3 to 6 spiraling stripes of different colors such as brown, black, pink, green, purple, or light yellow. The length of the snail species is between 30 to 60 millimeters and the shape is oval-conical shaped, thin, and robust. These species are arboreal and like to live on trees and are mostly seen on the branches of the tree Haematoxylum campechianum.
Image Source: Anders
2. Violet Sea Snail
The violet sea snail’s scientific name is Janthina janthina is a species of sea snail mostly seen across the southwest coast of England, in parts of the English Channel and off the coast of Wales and the south of the Republic of Ireland. It will begin life as a free-swimming larva and once it reaches an adult, it will produce mucus which it agitates with its foot to mix it with air and fill it with bubbles. This process will create a ‘bubble raft’ that helps the adult sea snail float on the surface of the sea, upside down with its shell hanging downwards. It will spend the rest of its life in this manner and prefers to feed on floating jellyfish.
Also Read: 10 Colourful Turtles
Image Source: Wikimedia
3. Draparnaud’s Glass Snail
Draparnaud’s Glass Snail scientific name Oxychilus draparnaudi, is a species of small land snail that belongs to the family of th the glass snails Oxychilidae. It is also known as the dark-bodied glass snail with the dimension of the shell is upto 14 mm in maximum. They he a visible soft part of the snail species very unusual strong dark blue, mixed with grey color. It is mostly seen in countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Great Britain, Ireland, Singapore, and Hawaii.
Image Source: Wikimedia
4. Painted Snail
Painted Snail is one of the most beautiful and colourful snails is one among the 1,400 species of land snails found in Cuba that belong to the genus Polymita meaning many stripes. The name painted snails comes from a variety of vibrant colors of their shells. These snail species are seen in eastern Cuba, including throughout Alexander von Humboldt National Park. These snail species look beautiful because of differences in color not just between species, but also within individuals of a single species.
Image Source: Wikimedia
5. Emerald Green Snail
Emerald green snail also known as green tree snail, or Manus green tree snail is a large and air-breathing snail species that belongs to the family Camaenidae. The sheep of these colorful snails are in demand to make jewelry and are popular with shell collectors hence these snail species are near being threatened. The snail species is endemic to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea where it loves to thrive in trees, and inhabits rainforest areas up to 112 m (367 ft) above sea level. The shell color of green tree snails is a vivid green color, which is unusual in snails.
Image Source: Andreas
6. Pink Tree Snail
The Pink Tree Snail’s scientific name is Calocochlia Festival and found in areas of trees in the Philippines. The size of the shel is around 2 inches wide and primarily feeds on lichens and some types of plant matter. Talking about the appearance, they have bright pink shells, however, depending on the individual, some shells may be closer to yellow.
Image Source: Berkerley
7. The Giant African Snail
The Giant African Land Snail is one of the largest terrestrial gastropods. Talking about the appearance, they have light to dark brown shells along with a darker shade of brown on them. The avarage lifespan of Giant African Land Snails is between 5 to 7 years, however, some of them can even live upto 10 years when they have enough food, and the weather is satisfactory. The length of the shell reaches up to 7.8 inches in length and in height, it is between 2.7 to 3.9 inches. The snail species is native to Africa, from Mozambique to Kenya and Somalia in addition to the nearby islands, however, now it is introduced to many parts of the world.
Image Source: Wikimedia
8. Venus Comb Murex
The Venus comb murex scientific named Murex pecten is a large predatory snail species that belongs to the family Muricidae, the rock snails or murex snails. The shell of the snail species is a very long siphonal canal, along with numerous spines and an extremely long siphonal canal. It is native to the Indo-Pacific waters. There are one hundred spines, which provide protection from predation, and prevent the snail from sinking in the soft mud. The primary diet includes mollusks.
Image Source: Wikimedia
9. Eyed Cowrie
Eyed Cowrie is one of the colourful snails whose scientific name is Arestorides argus and belongs to the family Cypraeidae, These sea snails are large cowry species that prefer to thrive in bodies of fresh water in Southeast Asia. The size of the shell is between 0.7″ to 1.25″ long. The primary diet includes worms and other gastropods. These striking snail species are also known as bumblebee snails because they have wide and alternating bands of dark brown (almost black) and yellow.
Image Source: Bill and Mark bell
20. Grove Snail
The grove snail also known as the brown-lipped snail or Lemon snail is an air-breathing land snail that belongs to the family Helicidae. This is one of the most common species of land snail in Europe and now it has been introduced to North America as well. Talking about appearance, it is among the and, because of its polymorphism and bright colors, one of the best-known snails in Western Europe. The shell color varies among reddish, brownish, yellow, or whitish, with or without one or more dark-brown color bands. The primary diet includes detritus, decaying vegetation, and small decaying invertebrates.
Image Source: Wikimedia
These are the 10 colourful snails in the world. Kindly share and post your comments.
