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Periwinkle Snail

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Littorina planaxis
Periwinkle Snail

Range

They are found on the coast from Alaska to Baja California.

Habitat

They attach to docks, wooden pilings and rocky areas in bays and on shorelines.

Body Traits

They have a sharp structure in their mouth called a radula. It is rows of sharp, hooked teeth for scraping algal food off rocks. They can replace up to 7 rows of teeth in one day. They can close themselves into their shells using their tail to keep from drying out or protect themselves from predators. Their doorway out of their shell is called the operculum.

Habits

They travel up and down the rocks with the tide, crawling out of the tide pool at night and back in during the day. They hide at low tide in groups in cracks or crevices. They secrete a special mucus around the opening to their shell. This hardens, cementing them to the rocks. When they are hungry they eat away the hardened mucus and crawl around.

Diet

They scrape plant scum off the rocky surfaces with a special structure in their mouth called a radula.

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District subscriptions provide huge group discounts for their schools. Email for a quote: sheri@exploringnature.org.

Reproduction

Once a year, males find a female for mating. Females lay their eggs in a mucus bundle in tide pools. The larvae hatch and are washed out to sea to grow.

Periwinkle Snail
Periwinkle Snail

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class:     Gastropoda
Order: Neotaenioglossa
Superfamily: Littorinoidea
Family: Littorinidae/Subfamily: Littorininae
Genus:     Littorina
Species: L. planaxis

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