The snail is a soft,slow-moving mollusk that is carefully protected from predators and threats in its coiled shell. They build their shells from a substance called calcium carbonate, which spirals outward as they grow. There are thousands of different species, divided into three basic categories: land snails, freshwater snails, and sea snails. The snail is draped in a luxurious shell and can become an exceptionally beautiful creature.
Today we are especially presented to you in some fascinating details of the 10 cutest snails in the world. These cute snails rank (some factors) for the complexity of the shells as well as bright and luxurious colors or other unusual appearances.
#10: Apple snail
Apple snails breathe through their lungs and gills. Apple snail is a diverse geographical range stretching between the freshwater belly of the family south of South America and the south of the United States. They are large and attractive in appearance, and are particularly popular aquarium pets. Named after curved apple-shaped shells, they come in a dizzying variety of colors, including blue, purple, pink, and emerald, sometimes decorated with stripes, up to six inches in size.
They are also one of the few animals that can continuously breathe through their lungs and gills. Unfortunately, apple snails can also be a pest, as they tend to invade alien ecosystems and destroy local crops, which can starve other species to death.
#9: Rabbit snail
The average lifespan of rabbit snails is two years.
These snails have two different names: rabbit snails (because of their large ear-like antennae) or snail-like snails (because of wrinkled skin and long "torso"). These tropical species are native to the waters surrounding Indonesia, but they are also very popular aquarium animals in the exotic pet trade. They are quite small (about two inches long) and their skin takes on a bright and luxurious color. Some species have particularly high shells that twist upwards into seven or eight interesting spirals. Rabbit snails are relatively easy to keep in aquariums and prefer to feed on algae and rotting plants. They usually live one to three years at a time.
#8: Dome Snail
Sometimes, the most beautiful species can be found in the most unexpected places. In 2012, scientists discovered the snail deep in the Croatian cave system, which stretched to more than 2,500 feet. This spectacular species has some benefits of ranking it above other cute snails. The first is its incredibly small size. They are only two millimeters tall and are one of the smallest snails in the world. The second is that they have a highly translucent body and shell that turns milky white with age. This allows you to almost see through them.
Because they have spent their entire lives in almost complete darkness, they have no vision.
#7: Purple conch
Purple sea snails can secrete mucus from their feet, which trap and harden the surrounding bubbles.
Cloaked in a stunning purple-blue or white shell, the violet-colored conch tosses and turns on the surface of the sea all its life, feeding on the large number of plankton around it. They live almost anywhere there are tropical or temperate waters, sometimes even rushing to the beach for people to find. Purple Sea snails maintain buoyancy by floating up on the bubble raft they created. It basically secretes mucus from the foot, which then captures and hardens the bubbles around the foot. It's a pretty clever trick and it's cute too.
#6: Red Snail
Red snails need salt water to breed.
Also known as red horse racing, the species thrives in saltwater or freshwater areas of the Philippines, including mangroves, estuaries, and streams; they also frequently come ashore. The species takes its name from the delicate shell motifs of alternating red, yellow and black jagged bands. One of the most appealing qualities is that it seems that no two snails have exactly the same pattern on their shells.
They have been an important part of the aquarium trade since 2015, and they thrive when they feed on large amounts of algae and rotting plants, which makes them excellent aquarium cleaners.
They often don't bother with fresh plants at all. While they do need salt water to breed, red snails are great for living in freshwater tanks. The typical lifespan is four to five years.
#5: Amphidromus (amphibian) snails
Amphidromus snails spend most of their time in trees.
Its name means "to run on both sides" in Greek. But whatever it sounds like, the name does accurately refer to the fact that the shell can coil left or right, which is a very rare phenomenon in the mollusk world, because snails with opposite coiled shells are difficult to reproduce.
Tropical Amphidromus from South Asia and Australia comes in a variety of vibrant colors and extravagant shapes. The combination of yellow, purple, brown, green, and blue markings varies from species to species and almost looks like it was hand-drawn.
#4: Sea Butterfly
These spectacular, sparkling, and sometimes transparent sea snails were found at depths of about a few hundred feet in the ocean, swept by ocean currents. The shells of some species are very fragile, diminished or even completely missing, which, unfortunately, may make them vulnerable to ocean acidification caused by climate change. They are particularly abundant in Arctic waters, feeding on many different types of plankton as they move vertically from day to night in the water column as their "wings" flap. In turn, they are a very important food source for many marine fish.
#3: Sugarcane snails
Sugarcane snails are native to Caribbean islands.
This stunning candy-colored species, with its white shell up to 2.4 inches long and covered with three to six orange, yellow, red, and purple stripes, is native to Caribbean islands. It spends most of its life living in trees, feeding on lichens, moss, branches and twigs, with countless rows of sharp teeth, and occasionally descending to the ground to lay eggs in moist soil. After hatching, the baby snail will climb back to the tree to spend its life. Piles of shells found in the modern Dominican Republic may indicate that it was used as a food source by pre-Columbian indigenous peoples.
#2: Cuban painted snails
Cuban painted snails breed during the rainy season.
The Caribbean island of Cuba is home to some of the most diverse and beautiful snails on the planet, and the Cuban painted snail is one of the most fascinating representatives. Six species in the genus grow round shells in a variety of different colors, ranging from bright yellow to dark purple. Long stripes usually outline the threads of the shell to accentuate the swirling appearance.
Snails spend most of their time in trees, feeding on mosses, lichens, and fungi, and then breeding during the rainy season to produce more small snails. During the dry season, it can close the opening of the shell with mucus so that it can remain dormant until it rains again. Unfortunately, these snails are under high threat from predators, deforestation, invasive species, climate change and poaching. Their beautiful shells make them popular in jewelry and trinkets.
#1: Jewelry Top Snail
Native to the seaweed forests of the Pacific coast of North America and stretching between southeastErn Alaska and Baja California, this jewel-encrusted top snail is at the top of this adorable snail ranking for its ornate tapered gold shell, each of the nine spirals with violet or magenta stripes.
They are suspended throughout their lives in the middle of kelp stems and feed mainly on algae and simple marine invertebrates; Closely related furrow-top snails live in the seaweed canopy above them, while blue-capped snails live near the bottom of the stem. If the snail at the top is knocked down, then it will climb back again. When the breeding season approaches, the top snails lay their eggs in gelatinous ribbons for another snail to fertilize. Small snails emerge from the eggs in the form of "adults", not larvae.
Its appearance is so gorgeous, like a real jewel!