Estimated Time For Lesson: 3 minutes

ID Notes

Freshwater snails live in shells.

They have a wide variety of coiled or flattened spiral shaped shells which range in sizes.

  • Can be brown, other colours, striped, or patterned

  • Many are small (4mm), while others can be very large

  • They will often stick to the bottom of the sampling tray

Avoid confusing these with bivalves (these have shells of two similar parts, e.g. freshwater mussels) and terrestrial snails.

They can be found on lake shores and among vegetation, feeding on algae, fish eggs and detritus.

Empty shells are not counted!

Size: Can be up to 50mm