Aquascope

Facts

Mud snail
(3-4 specie in Swedish waters)

Distribution
Distribution in scandinavian waters

Maximum length: 6 mm.
Appearance: The shell has a light pink to light brown colour, occasionally somewhat transparent. At a distance, living mud snails look like small black or grey dots. The soft parts of the mud snail are white with dark patches or streaks.
Depth: 0-20 m.
Environment: Mud snails live commonly on soft bottoms, but in the Baltic they are even found on hard bottoms. Certain specie of mud snail are found in freshwater.
Misc: Mud snails are quite noticeable, especially on muddy and sludge-like bottoms because of their high population densities - (as many as tens of thousands per m2).
Classification: Often it is very difficult or impossible to classify mud snails. To determine the specie it is necessary to study their shell form, tentacle and mouth pigmentation, the tongues appearance and the genital form.
    Mud snails are mesogastropods, which belong to the shells group under the molluscs.


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Bo Johannesson | Martin Larsvik | Lars-Ove Loo | Helena Samuelsson