Shells
The shells of most species of sea snails are spirally coiled. Some, though, have conical shells, and these are often referred to by the common name of limpets. In one unusual family (Juliidae), the shell of the snail has become two hinged plates closely resembling those of a bivalve; this family is sometimes called the "bivalved gastropods".
The shells of living species of sea snails range in size from Syrinx aruanus, the largest living shelled gastropod species at 91 cm, to minute species whose shells are under 1 mm at adult size.
Because the shells of sea snails are strong and durable in many cases, as a group they are well represented in the fossil record.
The shells are found in a variety of shapes and sizes, but are normally very small.
Read more about this topic: Sea Snail
Famous quotes containing the word shells:
“As many as the shells that are on the shore, so many are
the pains of love; the darts that wound are steeped in
much poison.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We are going to pull out the plug. We have reached the point where shells do not hurt us any more.”
—Michel Aoun (b. 1935)