The stories shells tell...

[pinkunicorn]

I had an idea of a communal topic. Lots of snails have shell damage and other imperfections that mark them for life. They tell the story of that snail, there is usually a life-threatening situation at some point in the snail's life whether that snail was captive or wild born. Maybe you rescued and nursed the snail back to life, or there was an accident in the home tank. Or maybe there's some other story to tell.

Post pics of your snails with marked shells and tell us what happened. If it's a wild born with unknown history, maybe the shell's healing pattern can reveal something, too.

I've a new wild aspersa with interesting damage, I will post her story once I have some pics uploaded (bad connection right now).

[Cashell]

I would love to participate, but my 2 MP camera won't allow me so, I'm out!

[malacophile]

I'd be happy to participate. Fortunately, I've only come across one snail with shell damage, and he had it when I found him.



He's a Triodopsis tridentata I got from the local area. It looks like he was pretty badly damaged at some point, but ended up fixing himself nicely.

[pinkunicorn]

That's interesting how the shell changed colour after the damage. You see often patterns changing as well. The new shell can look completely different to the older parts. Makes you wonder how the patterns are determined... there is obviously a genetic component but something else does change for good with massive shell damage. Can shell damage turn genes on/off to change their expression?