Gastropod, any member of more than 65,000 species belonging to the class Gastropoda, the largest group in the phylum Mollusca. The class is made up of the snails, which have a shell into which the animal can generally withdraw, and the slugs, which are snails whose shells have been reduced to an internal fragment or completely lost in the course of evolution.
Snails have a basic body design:
Of the more than 65,000 species, about 30,000 are marine, 5,000 live in fresh water, and 30,000 live on land. In general, oceanic gastropods are most diverse in number of species and in variety of shell structures in tropical waters; several hundred species (each represented by a small number of individuals) can be found in a single coral reef habitat. Most gastropods are marine as the one below:
Freshwater snails are common in ponds, streams, marshes, and lakes. Usually only a few species are found at one place, but each species will have a rather wide range. Most species are common and feed on algae or dead plant matter.
Please review the following:
Land snails are very successfully, terrestrial dwellers. When actively moving, they continuously lose water. During periods when water is unavailable, they retreat into their shells and remain inactive until conditions improve.
Please review the following material provided by Britannica.com
Prompts
Please define the following words in your presentation
herbivore
omnivore
carnivore
Explain medical concerns regarding snails
Plan an expedition searching for gastropods
Collect and identify three different species of gastropods
Please develop and submit a presentation demonstrating your understanding of Gastropoda. Please include the above prompts in your presentation.