Snail teeth. Do snails have teeth? Recently, these mollusks have become increasingly used in medicine for the treatment of brain diseases.

So, all snails have one big 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 both at the ends of the antennae and at their base, and a mouth. It often expands into a tube, at the end of which are small sharp teeth, with which the snail can scrape off parts of plants.

A 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, the yellow-shelled sea snail, bores through the oyster shell and feeds on its flesh. The teeth of the snail are located on the tongue, with which it cuts and grinds food.

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

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

This whole apparatus operates on the principle of a dredging machine, which has as many buckets as a snail has teeth. It is these horn 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.

How not to envy the measured and calm way of life of these creatures. Personal apartments are always with you and there is no need to rush home. Travel to your pleasure without rushing 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 can think and make decisions. They are based solely on the experience of the lived time. In total, they can live up to 15 years.

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

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

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

weighed almost 2 kg and had a length of 15 inches.

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

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

It turns out that snails, like hedgehogs, can carry something on their fragile bodies. And this "something" can be 10 times more than the mollusk itself.

Newborn snails are born with a transparent shell. Only with the passage of time and eating food rich in calcium, the shell becomes dense and dark. The more calcium in the body of this creature, the more safe the life of the snail.

The snail can "walk on the edge of a knife" in the truest sense of the word. And stay alive and unharmed. This is because it secretes mucus, which protects the snail from everything sharp.

Recently, these molluscs have become increasingly used in medicine for the treatment of brain diseases.

Did you know that snails hibernate during the cold season? So they can hold out for more than six months. They just need to pull their heads into a dense shell and let out the mucus, which after a very short time will harden and merge with the shell together.

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

Snails - PHOTO

Most people are sure that the more toothy the animal is, the more dangerous it is. The shark's mouth contains several thousand (from three to fifteen, depending on the species) razor-sharp teeth arranged in several rows. That is why sharks are considered to be the most toothy and bloodthirsty, but by no means such a 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 scarier snail

It turns out that the snail is much "toothier" than the shark. She has as many as 25 thousand teeth in her mouth, with which she can easily grind even very tough stems and leaves without much difficulty.

It is worth noting that these are not exactly the teeth that we usually have in mind. In the oral cavity of the snail, there are so-called radulas - a special apparatus, more like a grater. Here, rather, it is important not how many teeth a cochlea has, but how they work. Located on the surface of the odontophore (a kind of "tongue"), the radula serves not for biting, but for scraping and grinding food. It consists of a chitinous basal plate (radular membrane) and chitinous teeth arranged across in several hundred rows. This whole apparatus operates on the principle of a dredging machine, which has as many buckets as a snail has teeth. It is these horn 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 a 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 located not quite the same as 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 the 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 scrapes off pieces of food, fish feces and other edible things with it. A grater tongue is an indispensable tool for grinding certain foods with snails. The same radula (chitinous ribbon) is located directly on the tongue. Often, a chitinous ribbon and a grater are combined into one and the same concept - language.

The ribbon radula is found 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 are in the mouth of snails. However, time does not stand still: scientists conducted a series of studies and experiments with mollusks and found out how many teeth are in the mouth of certain snails. It turns out that the American garden snail on its chitinous ribbon has 135 rows of tiny teeth, each of which includes 105 teeth. If you count, then their total number will be equal to 14175. This snail is the absolute champion in the number of teeth!

How do snail teeth work?

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

The oyster borer snail is a carnivore. Her way of eating is unmistakable from anyone else: she drills through the shell of an oyster and greedily scrapes its flesh 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 oral cavity of the snail resembles the constantly renewing teeth of sharks.

This clam. Today we will talk about what the teeth of a snail are, how many of them there are in different species, and how the animal gets its own food with their help.

Many breeders often do not think about this issue, limiting themselves only to 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 consider this issue in more detail.

Location

First of all, let's decide where the snail's teeth are? As many people know, conventionally a snail consists of a body and a shell. On the body is the head, on which the organs of vision and the mouth are located. If you look at the cochlea under a microscope, you can see several rows of sharp teeth in the mouth area. Teeth are also located on the snail's tongue, 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 bill goes to thousands. As such, snails do not have teeth; according to their scientific name, they are called radula or grater. The radula consists of a chitinous basal plate and rows of chitinous teeth. In some mollusks, the radula is shaped like a drill, thanks to which the snail is able to easily drill through the shell of its prey 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, while any of them recovers on its own if damaged! If only we people would do it! It is quite simple to calculate the total number of teeth in a garden snail, which will be equal to 14,175.

Thus, different types of snails have a different number 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 bright representative of mollusks with the strongest teeth in the world is a sea snail, a sea saucer. The habitat of these individuals are sea cliffs with a huge amount of algae on them. Gathering in groups, the mollusks clean the coarsened surface of the rock from algae.

Scientists interested in this understood that in order to clean the coarsened rock, snails must have fairly strong teeth. After doing 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 includes iron, and tightly packed mineral fibers add strength to the teeth.

As a result of the experiment, scientists crushed the teeth of mollusks to microscopic particles. Further, 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 the strength of the most durable material known at that time - spider silk.

Many admire the Soviet program for educating children, and scold the modern education system. 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).

It's embarrassing to admit, but until recently, I didn't know at all that the snail has teeth. Moreover, it turns out gastropod mollusk is a champion among critters. And my second-grader son enlightened me in this matter. They studied this at the rate of the surrounding world, and at the age of 33 I naively believed that the snail was toothless.

The number of teeth in snails

25 thousand, well, or so - it's incredibly hard to believe! Where do they fit in there? And what are their sizes?

clam teeth impossible to see without multiple magnification. They can also be called teeth rather conditionally. Rather, it is a rough language. But from the point of view of science - teeth.

Here are some facts:

snail teeth are not the same shape- there are even and curved, thin and voluminous;
teeth are arranged in straight rows, the number in each row depends on the type of mollusk;
teeth wear out during use. New ones move in their place, which grow in snails throughout their lives.

The mechanism of absorption of food by a snail differs from that familiar to a person. Animal does not bite off, but, scraping, rubs the food, as it were.

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

The strength of snail teeth

A few years ago, scientists announced that from now on the most durable biomaterial on the planet are the teeth of sea snails- sea saucers. And the spider web, which until then was considered the strongest natural material for a long time, is in an honorable second place.

How pundits came up with the idea of investigating clam teeth? They were attracted by rocks inhabited by gastropods. The entire surface of these rocks seems to be scratched. And since mollusks feed on algae growing on rocks, it means that they left 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 cobwebs.