Hairy snails

[doom]

Hey!

Do you know what is this on the shell? I have never seen this.

[Zoltan]

According to G. M. Barker's The biology of terrestrial molluscs (CABI, 2001, 558 pp.):

"Periostracal hair-like or scale-like processes are not uncommon in a number of stylommatophoran families. A number of hypotheses have been advanced for the functional role of these periostracal processes, including: (i) ‘to repel moist particles’ (Solem, 1974) and prevent wet leaves from adhering to the shell; (ii) to defend against predators (Webb, 1950); and (iii) to camouflage the shell by trapping soil and debris (Pilsbry, 1940). These hypotheses are yet to be tested."

I also found this open-access article:

Pfenninger, M., M. Hrabáková, D. Steinke & A. Dèpraz. Why do snails have hairs? A Bayesian inference of character evolution. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2005, 5:59. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-5-59

[Galapoheros]

Whoa!, that's new to me, never seen that before either. Are those native?, do all specimens of the same species have those hair-like growths? If so, I'd say it's for defense also imo.

[doom]

Yes, they are native to and found in Slovenia.

[hotflakes2]

Now those gave me the creeps. It would be cool if those were spikes.