Great pond snail
The great pond snail, scientifically known as Lymnaea stagnalis, is a large freshwater snail found in ponds rich in chalk and limestone across Europe, Asia, and parts of North America. It is closely related to the common garden snail, with the primary distinction being their respective habitats. This snail features a spiraled shell that can reach lengths of up to 2 inches and is characterized by its large, triangular antennae, which resemble horns more than typical snail antennae.
As an air-breather, the great pond snail frequently surfaces for air and glides along various underwater surfaces using its strong muscular foot. Its diet primarily consists of decaying plant and animal matter, algae, and occasionally the eggs or larvae of other species. Notably, the great pond snail is hermaphroditic, possessing both male and female reproductive organs, yet it requires a mate for fertilization.
After mating, it lays around 300 fertilized eggs in a sticky band on aquatic plants. While the great pond snail faces predation from fish, frogs, and birds, it is not considered a threatened species and can live up to four years. This snail plays an essential role in its ecosystem, contributing to the breakdown of organic matter in freshwater habitats.
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Great pond snail
The great pond snail is a large snail which inhabits freshwaters worldwide. The great pond snail is a close relative of the common garden snail. The main difference between the two species of snails is their habitat.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Hygrophila
Family: Lymnaeidae
Genus: Lymnaea
Species: Stagnalis
The great pond snail is a freshwater snail. It typically inhabits the chalk- or limestone-rich ponds throughout Europe and eastward across Asia as far as India and southward into northwestern Africa. It can also be found in North America.
The shell of the great pond snail may grow to a length of 1 1/2 to two inches (about four centimeters) and a width of about 45 to 60 millimeters (4 1/2 to six centimeters). Like other snails, the great pond snail has a soft body, a hard, protective outer shell, and a strong, muscular foot. On its head the great pond snail has two large, triangle-shaped antennae. The antennae of the great pond snail look more like horns or rabbit ears than like the thin antennae of other snails. In front of these antennae are the great pond snail's eyes. The great pond snail's head is attached to the muscle which becomes this creature's foot. Unlike some snails, which breathe oxygen from the water, the great pond snail is an air-breather. For this reason, the great pond snail must frequently come to the surface for air.
The strong, muscular foot of the great pond snail helps this creature to glide along smooth surfaces such as rocks, grasses, and the glass sides of aquariums.
Above its soft body is the shell of the great pond snail. This shell is similar in shape to the whelk's shell. It is spiraled with many whorls, or large rounded sections. The number of whorls on the great pond snail's shell show this creature's age.
The great pond snail typically feeds on decaying plant and animal matter and algae which grows on underwater surfaces. The great pond snail slides along the plants, stones, and mud on the pond floor searching for its meals. When it finds something stuck to a hard surface, the great pond snail uses its radula, or toothed tongue, to scrape it from the surface. In addition to eating decaying material, the great pond snail also feeds on the eggs and larvae of other creatures and may sometimes even attack small fish and newts.
As a hermaphrodite, or animal which has both male and female sexual organs, the great pond snail produces both sperm and eggs. However, even though it has both sperm and eggs, it does not fertilize its own eggs. Instead, the great pond snail mates to transfer its sperm to another great pond snail's eggs and to have its own eggs fertilized by the sperm of its mate. After the great pond snail's eggs have been fertilized, the creature lays the eggs in batches of about 300. These batches are glued together in a sticky band of jelly and attached to the underside of an aquatic, or water-living, plant's leaf. While the great pond snail is still an egg it goes through many developmental stages and eventually emerges as a miniature version of its parents, complete with a hard, protective outer shell.
Fish, toads, frogs, larger snails, and birds are predators of the great pond snail. The great pond snail has a life span of up to four years. The great pond snail is not a threatened species.
Bibliography
Abney, CJ. “Great Pond Snail: A Complete Lymnaea Stagnalis Care Guide!” Bantam.earth, 12 May 2023, bantam.earth/great-pond-snail-lymnaea-stagnalis. Accessed 3 Apr. 2024. “Great Pond Snail - Lymnaea Stagnalis.” NatureSpot, www.naturespot.org.uk/species/great-pond-snail. Accessed 3 Apr. 2024.