WHAT ARE GASTROPODS?
These slimy animals have twisted shells and topsy-turvy insides
WORDS LAURA MEARS
Did you know?
A gastropod’s tongue is called a radula
Crithe huna sea snails measure just two millimetres long
Including well-known slugs and snails, this group of animals walk on their organs. Gastropod literally means ‘stomach foot’, and there might be as many as 150,000 different species. As a group, gastropods have been around for 500 million years. That makes them far older than the dinosaurs. They live all over the world, from the bottom of your garden to the bottom of the ocean. Gastropods are a type of mollusc, and they share some important biological features. They have a flat, muscular foot, a soft body called a mantle and often – but not always – ahard outer shell. They also have completely twisted internal organs: their stomachs are U-shaped and their bottoms are on top of their heads.