The snail has over 25,000 of them. Does a snail have teeth? How not to envy the measured and calm lifestyle of these creatures. You always have your personal apartment with you and there is no need to rush home. Travel for pleasure without haste and wherever you want

This clam has. Today we will talk about what snail teeth are, how many there are different types, and how with their help the animal gets its food.

Many breeders often do not think about this issue, limiting themselves to only general knowledge about the structure of their pet. However, those who are interested in knowing everything about their pet often wonder how many teeth a snail has, let's try to look at this question in more detail.

Location

First of all, let's decide where the snail's teeth are? As many people know, a snail consists of a body and a shell. On the body is the head, on which the organs of vision and mouth are located. If you examine the snail under a microscope, you can see several rows of sharp teeth in the mouth area. The snail's tongue also has teeth, thus interacting with pairs of teeth, the snail grinds food.

Quantity

So how many teeth does a snail have, you ask? Of course, everything directly depends on the type of mollusk, but the number goes into the thousands. Snails do not have teeth as such; their scientific name is radula or grater. The radula contains a chitinous basal plate and chitinous teeth arranged in rows. In some mollusks, the radula has the shape of a drill, thanks to which the snail is able to easily drill through the shell of its victim and get to the desired food.

One of the record holders for the number of teeth is the American garden snail, which has 135 rows, each of which contains 105 teeth, and any of them, if damaged, is restored independently! If only it were like this for us people! It is quite easy to calculate the total number of teeth in a garden snail, which will be equal to 14,175.

Thus, different types of snails have different numbers of teeth, but in general we are talking about a figure from 10 to 30 thousand.

The strongest animal material on the planet

The reader's attention should be drawn to the fact that snails are among the living creatures that have the strongest teeth on the planet. A striking representative of mollusks with the strongest teeth in the world is the limpet sea snail. The habitat of these individuals is sea cliffs with a huge amount of algae on them. Gathering in groups, the mollusks completely clean the rough surface of the rock from algae.

The scientists who were interested in this understood that in order to clean the rough rock, the snails must have fairly strong teeth. After conducting some research, scientists discovered an amazing fact - the teeth of the sea limpet are made of a material that is one of the most durable on the planet.

During the experiments, it was possible to find out that the teeth of these representatives of mollusks consist of the substance goethite, which contains iron, and densely packed mineral fibers add strength to the teeth.

As a result of the experiment, scientists crushed the teeth of mollusks into microscopic particles. Next, these particles were attached to a special microscope, which determines the strength of a particular material. The results of the experiment were stunning; the microscope gave a strength result of 5 GPA, which is five times more than the strongest material known at that time - spider silk.

So, all snails have one large leg located on the underside. These creatures are equipped with one or two pairs of antennae, or horns. They have two eyes, which can be located either at the ends of the antennae or at their base, and a mouth. It often expands into a tube, at the end of which there are small sharp teeth, with their help the snail can scrape off parts of plants.

The snail has about 25,000 teeth. It turns out that this is the most toothy animal on earth!

Some snails eat animal food. The oyster borer, for example, a sea snail with a yellow shell, bores into an oyster shell and feeds on its meat. The snail's teeth are located on its tongue, which it uses to cut and grind food.

They are not located in rows, but in the form of a “grater”, with which they grind food.

Nature has provided the American garden snail with the largest number of teeth. Her tongue is lined with 135 rows of teeth, 105 teeth in each row. When a snail “gnaws” through an underground corridor, it uses... 14,175 teeth!

This entire apparatus operates on the principle of a dredging machine, which has as many buckets as a snail has teeth. It is these horny formations that scrape off nutrient, which then enters the digestive tract. Some species of gastropods use the radula as a drill, with which the snail opens the shell of its prey.

How not to envy the measured and calm lifestyle of these creatures. You always have your personal apartment with you and there is no need to rush home. Travel for pleasure, without haste, and wherever you want.

Did you know that snails are one of the oldest creatures on the planet? It turns out that these animals lived 600 million years ago (!).

Snails are small in size. This also applies to their gray matter - the brain. However, even with a tiny brain, they know how to think and make decisions. They are based solely on the experience of past time. In total, they can live up to 15 years.

Did you know that snails are deaf creatures? They do not have hearing organs, which is why they cannot hear, and also cannot express themselves.

This is one of the animals that does not make any sounds during its entire life cycle. Everything is based on tactile sensations - touch.

There is the largest representative of snails. It was found in 1976

weighed almost 2 kg and was 15 inches long.

If you want to poison a snail near you, simply give it a "sweet" or "salty" death - salt and sugar.

The snails that live in gardens are the fastest - 55 m/hour. The rest are much slower e.

It turns out that snails, like hedgehogs, can wear something on their fragile bodies. And this “something” can be 10 times larger than the mollusk itself.

Newborn snails are born with a transparent shell. Only with the passage of time and eating food rich in calcium does the shell become dense and dark. The more calcium in the body of this creature, the safer it is for the snail to live.

A snail can “walk on the edge of a knife” in the literal sense of the word. And stay alive and unharmed. This is because it secretes mucus, which protects the snail from anything sharp.

IN Lately These mollusks are increasingly used in medicine to treat brain diseases.

Did you know that snails hibernate during the cold season? This way they can last more than six months. They just need to pull their head into the dense shell and release the mucus, which after a very short time will harden and merge with the shell.

Snails cannot chew if they have teeth. They grind food in their mouths against their teeth and thus saturate their body with food reserves.

SNAILS - PHOTO

Many people admire the Soviet children's education program, and modern system education is criticized. Until the fifth grade, I studied according to the vaunted program of the USSR, but, I see, so many interesting things passed by (I note that I studied diligently).

I'm embarrassed to admit, but until recently I didn't even know that the snail has teeth. Moreover, it turns out The gastropod is a champion among toothies. And my second-grader son enlightened me on this issue. They studied this in the course of the surrounding world, and at 33 years old I naively believed that the snail was toothless.

Number of teeth in snails

25 thousand, or so – it’s incredibly hard to believe! Where do they fit there? And what are their sizes?

Shellfish teeth impossible to see without multiple magnification. They can even be called teeth rather arbitrarily. Rather, it is a rough tongue. But from the point of view of science - teeth.

Here are some facts:

snail teeth are not the same shape– there are smooth and curved, thin and voluminous;
teeth are arranged in even rows, the number in each row depends on the type of mollusk;
During use, teeth wear down. In their place, new ones move, which grow in snails throughout their lives.

The mechanism by which a snail absorbs food differs from that of a human. Animal does not bite off, but, scraping, as if rubs the food.

Predatory representatives use their teeth a little differently - they They drill a hole in the shell of their prey.

Snail Teeth Strength

A few years ago, scientists announced that from now on The strongest biomaterial on the planet is the teeth of sea snails- sea limpets. A spider web, which until then had long been considered the strongest natural material, is in honorable second place.

How did scientists come up with the idea to explore mollusk teeth? They were attracted by the rocks where gastropods live. The entire surface of these rocks seems to be scratched. And since mollusks feed on algae growing on rocks, it means that it was they who left the scratches with their teeth.

I don’t know exactly what methods scientists managed to study teeth saucers, the length of which does not exceed 1 millimeter, but as a result it turned out that The incisors of sea snails are 10 percent stronger than spider webs.

Most are sure that the more “toothed” an animal is, the more dangerous it is. The shark has several thousand (from three to fifteen depending on the species) razor-sharp teeth in its mouth, arranged in several rows. That’s why sharks are considered to be the most toothy and bloodthirsty, but by no means the slow and harmless snail, because not everyone knows how many teeth a snail has, photos and drawings of which are found in many children’s books.

There is no beast more terrible than a snail

It turns out that the snail has much more teeth than the shark. She has the most teeth. She has as many as 25 thousand teeth in her mouth, with the help of which she can grind even very hard stems and leaves without much difficulty.

It's worth noting that these are not exactly the teeth we usually have in mind. In the oral cavity of the snail there are so-called radulas - a special apparatus that looks more like a grater. Here, rather, what is important is not how many teeth the snail has, but how they work. The radula located on the surface of the odontophore (a kind of “tongue”) is not used for biting, but for scraping and grinding food. It consists of a chitinous basal plate (radular membrane) and chitinous teeth arranged transversely in several hundred rows. This entire apparatus operates on the principle of a dredging machine, which has as many buckets as a snail has teeth. It is these horny formations that scrape off the nutrient, which then enters the digestive tract. Some species of gastropods use the radula as a drill, with which the snail opens the shell of its prey.

Some interesting facts from the life of snails

In conclusion of the story about how many teeth a snail has, it should be noted that it is not the record holder for “toothiness” in the animal world. The absolute champion is the naked slug. He has about thirty thousand teeth.

There are, but conditionally, since they are not located exactly like in most vertebrates. And it’s not exactly teeth. These are the so-called radulas - chitinous ribbons on which there are thousands of chitinous “teeth”. But these “teeth” do not bite food, but scrape it off.

Predatory carnivorous snails use a special caustic liquid secreted by them before eating. This allows you to soften future food.

The fact is that the tongue of snails is a grater. It got its name precisely because the snail uses it to scrape off pieces of food, fish feces and other edible things. A grater tongue is an indispensable tool for grinding food by snails. That same radula (chitinous ribbon) is located directly on the tongue. Often chitinous tape and grater are combined into the same concept - tongue.

The ribbon radula is present in both carnivorous snails and slugs (naked snails) and herbivores. There is only one difference here: in different species of these mollusks, the chitinous ribbon has its own “tooth” pattern.

How many teeth do snails have?

For a long time, science did not know how many teeth snails have in their mouths. However, time does not stand still: scientists have conducted a number of studies and experiments with mollusks and found out how many teeth certain snails have in their mouths. It turns out that the American garden snail has 135 rows of tiny teeth on its chitinous ribbon, each of which contains 105 teeth. If you count, their total number will be 14175. This snail is the absolute record holder for the number of teeth!

How do snail teeth work?

Snail teeth are movable. Due to their specific movements, the mollusk pushes food into its mouth, scraping it off: the food is slowly but surely pushed into the snail’s esophagus. The tongue (chitinous ribbon) of mollusks grinds food quite effectively, but not without losses for the snail itself. The fact is that her small teeth are constantly forced to large quantities wash.

The snail called the oyster borer is carnivorous. Her feeding method cannot be confused with anyone else's: she drills into the oyster's shell and greedily scrapes out its meat with her tongue.

It is worth noting that for mollusks, worn teeth are not a problem at all. The fact is that their teeth grow constantly and quite quickly. In principle, such regeneration in the snail's oral cavity is reminiscent of the constantly renewed teeth of sharks.