Snails breathe: Does Mr. Snail have a nose?

Mr. Snail breathes too!

Are snails a part of my family?

I would say, yes! Snails or Mr. Snail are becoming like family to me.

Often, we have caring thoughts towards our family members. For example, we wonder if they have had food or have slept well. To me, snails are becoming like family because I have begun to wonder if they have eaten well or are finding shade to cool down in the summer.

Have you ever had that relationship with a snail?

Don't worry if you haven't, as snails are patient and wait for us to find them.

Now, have you ever seen a snail crawl into tiny spaces? Has that made you wonder about their breathing? Do they have a nose?

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Do snails breathe?

Snails belong to the pulmonata class or a group consisting of lungs. Pulmonate snails have a pallial cavity. The pallial cavity is a hollow region surrounded by the mantle of the snail. The pallial cavity encloses the delicate organs of Mr. Snail like the lungs that help snails breathe air. Freshwater snails or aquatic snails have gills in the pallial cavity. Interestingly, marine nudibranchs, a variant of snails, utilize feathery appendages called cerata to breathe. They have evolved to have reduced gills. Isn't the differentiation between the human respiratory organs and a snail's fascinating? Yet, we breathe the same air.

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What do snails have to tell us?

I'd like to share that the snail world teaches human beings. My relationship with snails and the angelic world help me understand how snails perceive humans and our world. From what I understand, they are waiting for us to play with them and show them that we exist, even for them. They are here to teach us to pause, check, and respond too.

I have experienced immense friendship through snails. They have crawled on my palm and have made me feel loved and seen.

If you have a snail friend like Mr. Snail, I hope you realize that you have a loyal friend. Please give your snail a chance to support you :).

-Don't be a stranger,

Pranita

Science Communicator and Author

P.S. - I use the term Mr. Snail affectionately to describe the snail that I feed on particular days :). To respect the content in this post, I humbly request readers to look at snails as sacred beings that are equal to human beings.

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Reference:

‌Snails and Slugs (Gastropoda). www.molluscs.at. https://www.molluscs.at/gastropoda/index.html?/gastropoda/dormancy.html

Luiz RL, Simone. The molluscan pallial cavity. 2021;4(1):1-9. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349648032_The_molluscan_pallial_cavity

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