Top of Page.Roman snails only have one foot. But they have thousands of teeth. During mating, Roman snails are neither male nor female, but both, not one after the other, but at the same time. The biology of Roman snails is full of interesting facts ... More...
While outside of a snail's shell ony foot and head can be seen, some parts of the snail's body always remain inside the shell ... More...
Roman snails are herbivores. Their rasping tongue (Radula) with thousands of similar looking teeth is generally typical for molluscs. So, snails and other molluscs are among those few evertebrate animals capable of breaking up their food. ... More...
A Roman snail's digestion takes place in another way than in humans: The stomach is only a blind sack used to collect the food, and the digestive gland, often also falsely referred to as snail liver, not only produces digestive secretions but also digests food and stores nutrients in a suitable form. Roman snails are even able to gain valuable chalk from their food. More...
A Roman snail's excretion happens in the kidney. Here especially waste rich in nitrgen is filtered from the blood stream and in the same time reaquiring water, so the snail finally excretes a paste rich in uric acid. More...
All Roman snails are of noble blood – they have blue blood. However, this is not because of their noble heritage, but because they use another blood colourant than us: Hemocyanin working on the base of a copper complex, which turns blue when oxygenated ... More...
The Roman snail's nervous system has evolved from a ventral rope-ladder nervous system, similar to that of segmented worms (Annelida). The Roman snail's nervous system, though, has evolved considerably since its rope-ladder times: The nerve knots (ganglia) formerly dispersed in the body have concentrated in a ring around the gullet, so that this could even be called the snail's brain. More...
A Roman snail only has got two types of sense organs: Its eyes and the equilibrium organs near the ganglion ring around the gullet. Numerous specialised nerve cells are, however, dispersed over the body surface and provide the snail with information on touch, temperature and humidity. Cells on taste and smell mainly are located on the snail's lips and tentacles ... More...
A Roman snail's shell consists of hard, resistant lime (calcium carbonate). Until maturity the shell grows together with the snail's body, because the snail keeps attaching further lime material near the shell mouth. Besides, the shell wall is also thickened by attaching shell matter from the inside. As after maturity this is the only shell growth left, there are old Roman snails with amazingly thick and resistant shells. Should there be shell damage the snail may even be able to repair it. By form and colour of its shell the Roman snail can also be distinguished from its relatives, the other helicid snails ... More...
Roman snails are hermaphrodites - their single genital apparatus disposes of a genital organ, (gonad) producing sperm cells as well as egg cells and thus also called a hermaphroditic gland. Besides there are numerous auxiliary organs and genital ducts. Before two Roman snails actually mating there is an extensive courtship, during which even a love dart may be applied, the role of which only has been discovered some years ago ... More...
The fertilisation of eggs happens independently from mating, only directly before oviposition: When the snail has obtained a suitable place for depositing its eggs, it begins to dig an earth hole in which it then lays its eggs. When finished, it closes the hole with earth and leaves the eggs alone ... More...
From the fertilised egg cell a young snail develops. Roman snails, other than many aquatic snails, do not develop by a free larval stage, but their complete development takes place inside the egg. The hatching juvenile looks quite similar to an adult snail. But until it reaches maturity, there is a long dangerous life lying before it ... More...
In Central Europe, Roman snail, that can reach more than 20 years of age, must be able to endure the frosty winter climates. Thanks to an amazing variety of adaptations, physiological as well as in behaviour, Roman snails can survive temperatures considerably below zero ... More...
Not only the cold of winter, but also heat and dryness in summer may be harmful to a Roman snail, which is much better adjusted to humid weather. It can, though, endure such dry times during resting periods called aestivation ... More...
Biological systematics distinguishes nomenclature (naming) and classification into a biological system with firm rules. The Roman snail (Helix pomatia) together with its relatives, aside from Helix also from the genera Cornu and Cantareus, as well as with farther related genera like the banded snails (for example Cepaea nemoralis) and the copse snail (Arianta arbustorum), is counted among the helicid family (Helicidae). Those belong to the order of Stylommatophora, the sub-class of Eupulmonata and finally of course, to the snails and slugs (Gastropoda), one of eight classes in the mollusc phylum (Mollusca) ... More...
Identifying snail species with accuracy in a correct scientific way is far from easy. Helix pomatia is clearly not the only Helix species. Besides there are at least two other large helicid snail species in Central and Western Europe, introduced from other countries. Especially on the Balkan Peninsula, as well as in Asia Minor, there is a large number of Helix species and related groups. So the necessary identification can happen using shell characters, or by dissecting snails and examining them anatomically. As a last resort there finally may be a molecular genetic examination ... More...
A Roman snail is a lime-loving humid air creature. It occurs preferably on lime rich soil with abundant vegetation, such as on forest rims, bush and hedge land. Though sometimes appearing in gardens and agricultural areas (it is called vineyard snail in different languages) the Roman snail cannot be considered as a garden pest. Because of destruction of its habitats and excessive picking of snails for marketing, the Roman snail today has become so rare, that it cannot inflict any damage and is generally placed under government protection. Because of the extensively applied herbicides, in vineyards today there are very few "vineyard snails" ... More...
Helix pomatia is a continental snail species, in contrary, for example, to its relative, the brown garden snail (Cornu aspersum), which occurs mainly near the coast and in oceanic climate. Today it is assumed, that the Roman snail has only been able to settle in Central Europe because of the post-glacial human settlements clearing the surrounding forest. Also, there has been distribution of Roman snails directly by man, which is why it is called Roman snail ... More...
The economical importance of molluscs to man can be retraced as far back as prehistoric times. From excavations it has been known, that molluscs were collected at that time already, first mussels from the sea, later also snails. Today snails are not only eaten but also used for pharmaceutical research.
As it is too rare today to be picked from nature to be sold, the Roman snail is among the snail species cultivated on snail farms. Economical (and ecological) snail farming is the only ecologically feasible way to produce a sufficient amount of snails to satisfy the market. There are different methods of snail farming, most of them mainly from France and Italy. There is competition, though, by snails from Eastern Europe (Poland), the Balkan and Turkey, where snails still are picked, no matter what the ecological consequences ... More...
Raising snails has accompanied man through an ever changing history. In the Middle Ages snails were a welcome lent food for monks as well as for peasants and nobles alike. Napoleon had hibernating lid snails taken with his soldiers as a natural conserve on his campaigns. In the 18th century snails from Swabian snail gardens were marketed as far as Vienna down the Danube River by special transport barges, the Ulm boxes. Today, snails are considered an expensive delicacy, but there is also a development towards the consumption of an old historical produce of nature ... More...
Latest Change: 03.10.2025 (Robert Nordsieck).