How to care for a pond snail. Common pond snail (Limnaea stagnalis). Who can you put in the same aquarium with?

Common pondweed– lat. Limnaea stagnalis, a representative of the phylum mollusks, belongs to the class Gastropods. A feature of the common pond snail, like all representatives of the pond snail family, is its peculiar swimming in water. A special organ (leg) is directed upward during movement, protruding slightly on the surface of the water. To common pond snail does not sink during movement, the middle of the leg bends down, thus acquiring the shape of a boat, while the animal’s shell is directed down to the bottom. Scientists do not yet understand this peculiar movement.

Structure

The snail's eyes are located at the base of the second pair of tentacles. The common pond snail breathes through one lung, which is a modified mantle cavity. The air in the lungs, in a calm state of the mollusk, prevents it from falling to the bottom. But if at this time you touch an ordinary pond snail, it instantly releases air from the respiratory tract and instantly falls down. It also has one kidney and one atrium. The shell of the common pond snail has the shape of a twisted spiral.

Animal characteristics:

Dimensions: clam length 5 – 7 cm.

Color: The common pond snail has variable colors, from dark blue to yellow flowers. The shell has a thin translucent structure.

Food and habitat

Common pond snails are omnivores; they can feed on both plant and animal foods, mainly algae, aquatic plants, uruti leaves, etc. Common pond snails are widely distributed throughout to the globe, mainly on ponds, rivers, lakes, etc. They live at shallow depths.

Names: common pond snail, marsh pond snail, large pond snail, lake pond snail.

Area: Europe Asia, North Africa, North America.

Description: pond snail, belongs to the pulmonary molluscs. The largest of the pond snails living in Russia.V last years divided into two types - Limnaea stagnalis And Limnaea fragilis The appearance of the pond snail is very variable: depending on the living conditions, the color, thickness, shape of the mouth and curl of the shell, and size vary. The pond snail's body can be divided into three main parts: the body, the head and the leg. The body follows the shape of the shell, fitting closely to it. The shell is thin spiral (twisted in 4-5 turns), highly elongated, with a large last whorl. The shell consists of lime, covered with a layer of greenish-brown horn-like substance. The head is large, with flat triangular tentacles and eyes sitting at the inner edge of their bases. The tentacles are thread-like. The pond snail's mouth leads to the pharynx. It houses a muscular tongue covered with teeth (grater). From the pharynx, food enters the stomach, then into the intestines. The liver helps digest food. The intestine opens through the anus into the mantle cavity. The leg is narrow and long, muscular, occupying the entire ventral side of the body. The breathing hole is protected by a prominent blade. The circulatory system is open. The heart pushes blood into the vessels. Large vessels branch into small ones, from which blood flows into the spaces between the organs.

Color: The color of the legs and body ranges from blue-black to sandy yellow. The pond snail's shell is brown.

Size: shell height 35-45 mm, width 23-27 mm.

Lifespan: up to 2 years.

Habitat: standing bodies of water (ponds, lakes, river backwaters, canals, swamps) with abundant vegetation. It can live in slightly brackish water. The pond snail is also found in drying up reservoirs.

Enemies: fish.

Food/food: The pond snail feeds on rotting remains of plants and animals. It deliberately swallows sand, which remains in the stomach and helps grind hard food.

Behavior: the pond snail is almost always active. It crawls among the thickets, scraping algae and small animals from the underside of the leaves. Maximum speed crawling - 20 cm/min. Breathes air, the reserves of which are renewed by rising to the surface (6-9 times per hour). Pond fish, living in deep lakes at considerable depths, breathe air dissolved in water, which is filled in the respiratory cavity. When the reservoir dries, it seals the mouth of the shell with a thick film. It can freeze into ice and then come back to life when it thaws.

Reproduction: The common pond snail is a hermaphrodite. Cross fertilization. Lays eggs enclosed in transparent mucous cords, which are attached to the aquatic plants and objects. Lays 20-130 eggs.

Breeding season/period: during the whole year.

Incubation: about 20 days.

Offspring: development without the larval stage. The eggs hatch into small pond snails with thin shells.

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In this article we will look at who the pond snail is, what features it has, where it is found and much more about this wonderful mollusk. What types of pond snails exist and what they look like.

Any from pond snails, whether ordinary, small or large, is a snail that lives in ponds and gardens where there is enough moisture.

Large and small pond snail

The large pond snail belongs to the class of gastropods, which is the most numerous and diverse compared to other classes of gastropods. There are more than 90 thousand species of such mollusks in nature, and their habitat is not only ponds, but also the sea and land.

Great pond snail is about 5 cm long and many distinctive features from brothers.

Let's talk about the external structure of a large pond snail. It consists of three parts, which are noticeable and perfectly distinguishable from each other. The body outside the shell is covered with a mantle to protect the internal mucous membrane; the shell of the mollusk is twisted for convenience into a spiral of 5 turns. This shell structure provides reliable protection bodies from irritants, mechanical damage . The sink contains lime for the basis of the structure of the spirals, and on top it is covered with an organic substance of a horn-like type (this is found on the horns of cattle, etc.).

Due to the structure of the shell, it received an asymmetrical body to better fit into the “protection”; the shell is connected to the body by a muscle. The muscle allows the animal to be pulled inside the shell, and with the help of a pronounced leg, the mollusk can crawl back out.

In internal structure For pond snails of any type, everything is arranged simply. The main organs are:

1. digestive complex;
2. leg;
3. eyes;
4. excretory and respiratory system;
5. sole and mucus secretion glands.

The snail feeds on plant food in crushed form, then the food from the tongue (has a “grater”) passes into the pharynx, is processed by the secretion of splitting and processed in the stomach and intestines.

The circulatory system is not closed, and the mollusks move due to their powerful legs, which glide over any surface thanks to the secretion secreted by the glands.

These animals are unique and there is no need to kill them. . They don't harm anyone, nor gardens, because they feed on plant foods that are easily processed (that is, weeds such as ephemerals (wheatgrass, woodlice). Snails also have healing properties, they proper nutrition and application, they secrete mucus that nourishes human skin and produces regeneration of epithelial cells.

Small pond snail

Who are pond snails? in general, you know from the previous paragraphs, now we will talk about small things. There are several small pond snails in nature:

Small snails are found in all gardens, have no big sizes and beautiful appearance. Be kind to snails, they do no harm, more good.

Common pond snail

The common pond snail is found in middle lane– Russia, Europe. The pond snail is large in size, one shell is 7 cm, not including the body. The pond snail breathes with nothing more than miniature lungs, the circulatory system is not closed, and they feed on tough plant foods, detritus and midges. External structure does not differ from a large pond snail, except that the body does not always correspond to the size of the shell, sometimes smaller than the shell. The color of the shell is pearlescent brown. Body color – brown, gray, white.

Snails can easily survive both in nature and in the artificially created environment of a terrarium or aquarium. The snail moves thanks to the secretion of mucus and the outer sole, which allows it to move quite quickly on different distances. Snail mucus is rarely used in cosmetology, but most often the mollusk is used for decoration.

Mollusks become attached to people - breeders, so if you fall in love with a snail, do not give it to others, otherwise the animal’s weak heart will not stand it.

Now let's take a look at the photo of the pond snail

Great pond snails

Many different snails live in ponds, rivers, and gardens, but the most common species is the pond snail. It lives in places where there is sufficient moisture, so it can be seen all over the world. This mollusk is quite often stocked in aquariums, as it copes remarkably well with plaque that forms on glass, stones or other objects, and it is also interesting to watch such a snail.

The pond fish does an excellent job of removing the deposits that form on the glass of the aquarium.

Description of the mollusk

The pond snail is a freshwater snail that has a well-developed spiral shell. The shell itself consists of five or six turns. On one side it has an mouth, and on the other there is a sharp peak. It reliably protects the soft body of the snail from various adverse effects and mechanical damage.

The pond fish breathes with the help of its lungs, and therefore it is forced to periodically rise to the surface of the water. At the very edge of the shell there is a special round hole that leads into the lung. And it is there that the blood is enriched with oxygen and carbon dioxide is released.

The pond snail's body consists of three main parts:

• heads;
• torso;
• legs.

leg freshwater inhabitant occupies the ventral part of the body. It is muscular, and with its help the snail moves along the surface. Life cycle in mollusks it is quite short, since in winter they all die. Depending on the species, pond snails differ from each other in the color of their shell, body and legs, and they may also have different shape and shell thickness.

The most common types

Snails are unique animals that do not bring any harm to humans; on the contrary, they have many benefits, since they actively eat various weeds, clean the aquarium well of growth, and even have healing properties. In nature, there are many variants of the pond snail, each of which has its own characteristic features.

But the most common types are:

There are other types of these mollusks, but they are much less common. For example, there are pond snails that live at a depth of up to 250 m or at an altitude of 5 thousand meters.

Nutrition and reproduction

The large pond snail feeds mainly on plant foods. In nature, it eats various weeds, algae and even rotten plants. In the aquarium, using a long tongue, it scrapes off the plaque that forms on the walls. This mollusk also eats any food that settles on the bottom.

As additional feeding, you can put small pieces of eggshells and chalk into the aquarium. From plant food snails can be given apples, cabbage, zucchini, pumpkin, carrots, and lettuce.

In nature, the pond snail eats various weeds, algae and even rotten plants.

Pond snails, like many other snails , are hermaphrodites, but their fertilization occurs in a cross way. They are also able to independently fertilize their own eggs. These moisture lovers put off the a large number of eggs, which are enclosed in a special transparent mucous clutch. Usually it has an elongated shape and is attached to various underwater objects, most often to vegetation. Sometimes one such clutch contains up to 300 eggs.

The eggs themselves are small and almost transparent. After about a month, small snails hatch from them, which external signs no different from adults. Pond fish reproduce quite actively, so if they are in an aquarium, you need to periodically remove excess eggs. In captivity, these mollusks can live up to two years, and during this period they lay eggs up to 500 times.

Difficulties in maintenance and illness

Pond fish are completely unpretentious animals, but the main difficulty in keeping them is that they can carry dangerous diseases , which at first glance are almost impossible to recognize. The most common disease in these mollusks is fungal infection. And if an infected individual is placed in community aquarium with fish and other inhabitants, it can quickly spread the infection.

To avoid such a situation, before placing the pond snail in a community aquarium, you need to keep it in quarantine for several days. During this period, you should put it in the room for a few minutes every day. weak solution potassium permanganate or table salt.

If the snail does not consume required quantity minerals and trace elements, then the walls of her shell may begin to become damaged or become thinner. In this case, the pond snail should be fed with foods that contain a high calcium content. After some time, the shell will heal and be completely restored.

Pond snails are freshwater lung mollusks distributed throughout the world. This family includes a huge number of species, but among them the most famous is the common pond snail, which has the largest size.

Large individuals reach 7 centimeters in length. These snails live in ponds, small lakes and river creeks from spring to autumn.

Large mollusks crawl quite interestingly along the bottom of the reservoir and aquatic plants. The largest number of pond snails is found in mid-summer among water lilies.

These mollusks are omnivores. Crawling over aquatic plants, they scrape off algae from them with the help of their radula, and at the same time eat the smallest living creatures that come across on the way. Pond fish are very voracious; they eat not only plant and animal food, but also carrion.

Pond snails often rise to the surface of the water, suspend themselves from the water film from below using a wide sole, and swim slowly in this position. Pond snails rise to the surface of the water for a reason. Although they live in water, they breathe, like all pulmonate mollusks, using their lungs, which is why they must rise and take air into their lungs. When a mollusk takes a breath of air, its respiratory opening, which leads into the pulmonary cavity, is wide open. The presence of lungs indicates that the ancestors of pond snails are land mollusks, and they returned to the water a second time.

Reproduction of pond snails

During the mating process, pond snails mutually fertilize each other, since they are bisexual creatures. Pond snail eggs are long, transparent, gelatinous cords that are attached to a variety of underwater objects. The eggs can even attach to another pond snail.

Caviar has a complex structure - the egg cell is immersed in a mass of protein, and on top it is protected by a double shell. In turn, the eggs are in a mucous mass and are dressed in a special shell or cocoon. A cord extends from the inner part of the shell, the second end of which is attached to the outer shell of the egg, that is, it turns out that it is suspended from the wall of the cocoon. This complex structure of eggs is characteristic of many species of mollusks.

Thanks to this structure, the egg is provided with nutrients and protected from exposure external environment. Inside the eggs, pond snails develop without the free-swimming larval stage. Most likely, this structure of eggs in pond snails is due to their connection with land ancestors, where such adaptations were more important than in water. The size of the clutch and the number of eggs in it can vary significantly. Sometimes there are up to 270 eggs in one cocoon.

Pond snails differ markedly from each other, and their size, color, thickness and shape of the shell can vary significantly. There are both large individuals and almost dwarf ones that have not matured due to poor nutrition or unfavorable external factors. In some individuals the shell consists of thick walls, while in others the shell is very thin and fragile, it breaks at the slightest impact. The curls and shape of the mouth vary greatly. The color of the body and legs can vary from sandy yellow to blue-black.

Thanks to this tendency for pond snails to vary, a huge number of varieties of mollusks have formed within the species. Therefore, it can be difficult for even scientists to determine whether a particular individual is simply a variety or a new subspecies.

Species of pond snails

In our reservoirs, not only common pond snails are often found, but also another species - the long-eared pond snail. In addition, the marsh pond snail and the egg-shaped pond snail live in stagnant water.

By 6-7 months, small pond snails reach sexual maturity, and they live for about 2 years. An egg cocoon can contain from 4 to 25 eggs. Young individuals develop over 10-20 days.