Introduction to Marine Gastropods Marine animals in the gastropod class include whelks, cowries, abalone, conchs, limpets, sea hares and nudibranchs. Despite their differences, all gastropods do have a couple things in common.

Examples of gastropods include whelks, conchs, periwinkles, abalone, limpets, and nudibranchs. Many gastropods such as snails and limpets have one shell. Sea slugs, like nudibranchs and sea hares, do not have a shell, although they may have an internal shell made of protein.

Snails and slugs, limpets, and sea hares Gastropods are one of the most diverse groups of animals, both in form, habit, and habitat. They are by far the largest group of molluscs, with more than 62,000 described living species, and they comprise about 80% of living molluscs.

The Class Gastropoda (in Phylum Mollusca) includes the groups pertaining to snails and slugs. The majority of gastropods have a single, usually spirally, coiled shell into which the body can be withdrawn.

Snails and slugs are known as gastropods, which mean ‘stomach foot’. This describes the way in which the body and internal organs of slugs and snails has been twisted back so that the stomach lies above the large fleshy foot of these animals.

Cone shells are the only members of the gastropod class that may be seriously harmful to man. The venomous sting of some cone shell species may be deadly even for an adult.

How Dangerous are Slugs? It may be a surprise, but slugs can cause harm. The slimy mucus that slugs produce can cause excess drool or vomiting in pets like cats and dogs if ingested. Even worse, some slugs carry a parasite called rat lungworm which can transfer into your pet if they eat a slug.

Yes, it is relatively dangerous to handle a snail or slug with unprotected hands. Snails and slugs consume rat feces that contains the eggs of a parasitic worm. These worms can make either the rat or a snail their host.

In many parts of the world they can carry a nematode parasite, the rat lungworm, which in humans migrates to the brain and dies. This can cause a potentially fatal encephalitis. In general, people do not eat slugs (snails, properly cooked, are a different matter).

Eating raw or undercooked slugs, snails, and other critters – or even poorly prepared vegetables – can get you infected with rat lungworm, a parasite that’s as disgusting and dangerous as it sounds.

The slug’s trunk ends in a mucus pore, which is usually clogged with mucus. Inside the trunk under the portion covered by the left side of the mantle is its heart. The heart has just two chambers (we have four!) Slugs have blood!