One of the first creatures to appear on Earth were snails. With a huge number of varieties in shape, size, distinctive features, they live in almost every corner of the planet, playing an important role in its ecosystem.

Surely every person has at least sometimes wondered: what is the structure of snails? Do they have eyes, ears, teeth, a brain?

The structure of a snail can be examined using the example of a giant representative of the Gastropod class - Achatina, an inhabitant of tropical African forests, which has gained popularity as a pet. Ease of keeping, omnivorousness, lack of odor, unpretentiousness and affection (each individual knows its owner very well) are the factors that make it so unique creature becomes a favorite in many homes. In captivity, Achatina can live for about 10 years.

The structure of the Achatina snail

The structure of Achatina, the largest representative of land mollusks, is quite simple: a head, a body and a shell, the size of which can reach 25 centimeters.

On the head there is a mouth opening and tentacles - long and mobile, with eyes at the end. The ability to see surrounding objects among Achatina is measured by only a distance of 3 centimeters. At the same time, snails are very sensitive to lighting, especially bright light, the intensity of which is perceived not only but also by light-sensitive cells located on the body.

The snail's mouth is equipped with teeth (about 25 thousand pieces), but not in the usual sense. This is a device called a “radula”, which is a small “grater” and is adapted for grinding food.

Unfortunately, the snail does not have ears, so it cannot hear anything. The lack of hearing is compensated by the olfactory organs available to the mollusk: these are the skin of the front and small swellings located at the tips of the tentacles. Smell chemical substances(alcohol, gasoline, acetone) the snail can sense at a distance of 4 cm, the aromas of food will be felt about 2 meters away. The structure of snails, thanks to the same tentacles and soles - the organs of touch, gives them the ability to perceive the texture and shape of surrounding objects, thus becoming acquainted with the outside world.

Pet - Achatina

The structure of the Achatina snail, as well as its abilities, despite its apparent simplicity, have interesting features. Thus, they are characterized by Achatina being able to remember the location of food sources and return to them. Adults have permanent place for relax; when the snail is moved to another place (within 30 meters), it will crawl back to its native, more familiar one. Young specimens are characterized by mobility and can cover long distances throughout the day; They also have the ability to migrate long distances.

Characteristics and snails

The structure of snails is determined by their terrestrial existence, in connection with which mollusks have a well-developed sole, equipped with two foot glands that secrete mucus, and pass waves of contractions through it. Such specific features cause optimally easy movement of snails on a dry surface.

Wrinkled skin, along with the lung, which is only one specimen of the snail, takes an important part in respiratory process. Internal structure The cochlea is characterized by the presence of a heart, kidney, and nerve endings. According to experts, snails are not capable of experiencing pain. This strangeness is due to the absence of the head and spinal cord, instead of which there is a cluster of ganglia - nerve nodes, which together form a nervous system of a scattered-nodular type.

Protective functions of the sink

The snail shell, quite strong and massive, performs the following functions:

• protects soft body from mechanical damage during movement;
• protects from potential enemies;
• protects the snail's body from drying out.

The structure of the snail, or rather its shell, is directly influenced by the climatic conditions in which it lives. Thus, at high humidity the shell is thin and transparent; in dry and hot climates, its walls become thicker and the color becomes white (reflects the sun's rays and protects the snail from overheating).

Meet the grape snail!

Structure grape snail is no different from the structure of other species: the same shell, body and head with tentacles. Is that the size, unlike Achatina, is an order of magnitude smaller. And the lifestyle is close to field conditions, unlike domestic Achatina.

These are endless fields, gardens, forests, where the most comfortable places for snails are damp moss, the shade of plants or stones, under which you can hide from the heat.

The monochromatic shell of the grape snail is spherical, has a rounded shape and reliably protects the body of the mollusk from negative external factors. The leg with which the snail moves is large and muscular.

When moving, the glands secrete mucus, which softens friction with the surface. The average speed of movement of a grape snail is 1.5 mm/sec.

How do snails reproduce?

The special structure of snails directly affects the reproduction process, in which each individual acts as both a male and a female. To do this, two snails lead love game, which consists of carefully feeling each other, and then tightly merging with the soles.

In this way, mollusks exchange sex cells. Eggs, covered with a nutritious shell and having a supply of substances necessary for development, are laid by the snails in groups of 20-30 pieces in holes, which are then buried. After 2-3 weeks, the young generation appears, which in 1.5 months turns into full-fledged adult snails.

This clam has. Today we will talk about what snail teeth are, how many there are different types, and how with their help the animal gets its food.

Many breeders often do not think about this issue, limiting themselves to only general knowledge about the structure of their pet. However, for those who are interested in knowing about their pet everyone often wonders how many teeth a snail has, let's try to look at this question in more detail.

Location

First of all, let's decide where the snail's teeth are? As many people know, a snail consists of a body and a shell. On the body is the head, on which the organs of vision and mouth are located. If you examine the snail under a microscope, you can see several rows in the mouth area sharp teeth. The snail's tongue also has teeth, thus interacting with pairs of teeth, the snail grinds food.

Quantity

So how many teeth does a snail have, you ask? Of course, everything directly depends on the type of mollusk, but the number goes into the thousands. Snails do not have teeth as such; their scientific name is radula or grater. The radula contains a chitinous basal plate and chitinous teeth arranged in rows. In some mollusks, the radula has the shape of a drill, thanks to which the snail is able to easily drill through the shell of its victim and get to the desired food.

One of the record holders for the number of teeth is the American garden snail, which has 135 rows, each of which contains 105 teeth, and any of them, if damaged, is restored independently! If only it were like this for us people! It is quite easy to calculate the total number of teeth in a garden snail, which will be equal to 14,175.

Thus, in different species of snails different quantities teeth, but in general we are talking about a figure from 10 to 30 thousand.

The strongest animal material on the planet

The reader's attention should be drawn to the fact that snails are among the living creatures that have the strongest teeth on the planet. A striking representative of mollusks with the strongest teeth in the world is the limpet sea snail. The habitat of these individuals is sea cliffs with a huge amount algae on them. Gathering in groups, the mollusks completely clean the rough surface of the rock from algae.

The scientists who were interested in this understood that in order to clean the rough rock, the snails must have fairly strong teeth. After conducting some research, scientists discovered an amazing fact - the teeth of the sea limpet are made of a material that is one of the most durable on the planet.

During the experiments, it was possible to find out that the teeth of these representatives of mollusks consist of the substance goethite, which contains iron, and densely packed mineral fibers add strength to the teeth.

As a result of the experiment, scientists crushed the teeth of mollusks into microscopic particles. Next, these particles were attached to a special microscope, which determines the strength of a particular material. The results of the experiment were stunning; the microscope gave a strength result of 5 GPA, which is five times more than the strongest material known at that time - spider silk.

Of course, the teeth of the limpet snail were inferior in strength to those artificially created in laboratory conditions carbon fiber, but only slightly. Thus, by studying these unusual creatures further, there is a huge opportunity for science to use mollusk teeth to create the strongest things on the planet.

Did you like the article? Take it to your wall and support the project! Does a snail have TEETH?

So all snails have one big foot, located on the bottom side. These creatures are equipped with one or two pairs of antennae, or horns. They have two eyes, which can be located either at the ends of the antennae or at their base, and a mouth. It often expands into a tube, at the end of which there are small sharp teeth, with their help the snail can scrape off parts of plants.

The snail has about 25,000 teeth. It turns out that this is the most toothy animal on earth!

Some snails eat animal food. The oyster borer, for example, a sea snail with a yellow shell, bores into an oyster shell and feeds on its meat. The snail's teeth are located on its tongue, which it uses to cut and grind food.

They are not located in rows, but in the form of a “grater”, with which they grind food.

Nature has provided the American garden snail with the largest number of teeth. Her tongue is lined with 135 rows of teeth, 105 teeth in each row. When a snail “gnaws” through an underground corridor, it uses... 14,175 teeth!

It's worth noting that these are not exactly the teeth we usually have in mind. IN oral cavity The snail has so-called radulas - a special apparatus, more like a grater. Here, rather, what is important is not how many teeth the snail has, but how they work. The radula located on the surface of the odontophore (a kind of “tongue”) is not used for biting, but for scraping and grinding food. It consists of a chitinous basal plate (radular membrane) and chitinous teeth arranged transversely in several hundred rows.

This entire apparatus operates on the principle of a dredging machine, which has as many buckets as a snail has teeth. It is these horny formations that scrape off nutrient, which then goes to digestive tract. Some species of gastropods use the radula as a drill, with which the snail opens the shell of its prey.

How not to envy the measured and calm lifestyle of these creatures. You always have your personal apartment with you and there is no need to rush home. Travel for pleasure, without haste, and wherever you want.

Did you know that snails are one of the oldest creatures on the planet? It turns out that these animals lived 600 million years ago (!).

Snails are small in size. This also applies to them gray matter- brain. However, even with a tiny brain, they know how to think and make decisions. They are based solely on the experience of past time. In total, they can live up to 15 years.

Did you know that snails are deaf creatures? They do not have hearing organs, which is why they cannot hear, and also cannot express themselves.

This is one of the animals that does not make any sounds during its entire life cycle. Everything is based on tactile sensations - touch.

There is the most major representative snails It was found in 1976

weighed almost 2 kg and was 15 inches long.

If you want to poison a snail near you, simply give it a "sweet" or "salty" death - salt and sugar.

The snails that live in gardens are the fastest - 55 m/hour. The rest are much slower e.

It turns out that snails, like hedgehogs, can wear something on their fragile body. And this “something” can be 10 times larger than the mollusk itself.

Newborn snails are born with a transparent shell. Only with the passage of time and eating food, rich in calcium, the shell becomes dense and dark. The more calcium in the body of this creature, the safer it is for the snail to live.

A snail can "walk on a knife edge" literally this word. And stay alive and unharmed. This is because it secretes mucus, which protects the snail from anything sharp.

IN Lately These mollusks are increasingly used in medicine to treat brain diseases.

Did you know that snails hibernate during the cold season? This way they can last more than six months. They just need to pull their head into the dense shell and release the mucus, which after a very short time will harden and merge with the shell.

Snails cannot chew if they have teeth. They grind food in their mouths against their teeth and thus saturate their body with food reserves.

SNAILS - PHOTO

To the question how many teeth does a snail have asked by the author Victoria Galusa the best answer is
On average 25,000-30,000 teeth

Answer from Andrey Danilchuk[newbie]
The snail's tongue is equipped with a radula - a kind of grater covered with numerous chitinous teeth. Using the radula, the snail scrapes off food, which it then swallows. "Chitin tongue" is able to cope with very hard products. The radula is constantly renewed, worn out “teeth” are replaced with new ones.
13 facts about snails:
1. A solution with a caffeine concentration of 1-2% kills snails, and with a concentration of 0.01% it turns them away from eating. For comparison, a regular cup of coffee contains about 0.05% caffeine.
2. The first cyborg was a snail, whose neurons were attached to a silicon chip.
3. All nervous system The cochlea consists of 20 thousand neurons. By comparison, the human brain contains several hundred billion neurons.
4. Snails are beginning to be used as nerve tissue donors to treat brain diseases. The first successful experiments in transplanting the nerve ganglia of snails into the brains of rats suffering from epilepsy showed a significant decrease in the number of seizures in them, and in some cases the seizures stopped altogether.
5. Snail horns are a nose turned inside out. All the olfactory receptors that are located inside the nose in humans are extended into so-called horns in snails.
6. It is assumed that snails do not see, but only distinguish between light and dark.
7. A snail has about 25 thousand teeth. They are not located in rows, but in the form of a “grater”, with which they grind food.
8. The giant land snail Achatina fulica can reach up to 20 cm in length. Despite its enormous size, the average speed of such a snail is less than the speed of an ordinary grape snail.
9. Most species of snails are hermaphrodites.
10. Maximum speed grape snail 7 cm/min.
11. In southern and southwestern Europe, snails are eaten. Snail meat contains more protein than a chicken egg.
12. The largest snail found was of the species Syrinx aruanus. She weighed 16 kg. , and her house was 70 cm long. These are aquatic snails, and in water, as is known, weight decreases.
13. Almost all snails have a shell that twists clockwise, that is, to the right when viewed from the pointed end. Sometimes, quite rarely, left-handed shells are found.