Fastest snail specie

[tsrebel]

I've seen that the Helix aspersa is regarded as the fastest snail, but I'm convinced that that is wrong. My Leptaxis undata are much faster. Since they are only found in Madeira, they probably never got the chance to prove themselves. First step is to find out how those races are held (since snails often don't move in straight lines). I found this:

Also found this text. And a UK championship
Does anyone else keep unusually fast snails? Or maybe someone is very eager to prove that aspersas are the fastest? We could make our own race online? And we should have some common rules.

[morningcoffee]

I always found my Pleurodonte isabella extremely speedy! Those little guys could really move.

[Cashell]

Nice video find. Out of the 4-5 species I keep I'd say my brown-lipped snails move the fastest and the flamed tigersnails the slowest.
I have no idea what the fastest snail species in the world is!

[flintus]

In relation to body size, limicolaria sp. are pretty fast. Otherwise, margies for covering the most ground would be my bet.

[andreiamlm]

Madeira the portugueses Island? Really? Fascinating!

[tsrebel]

Yes, the portugese island. I got some from a board member who lives there. They are quite easy to keep and reproduce well.

When I wrote the first post, I completely forgot about carnivore snails. I guess they are faster than most other snails to be able to hunt them down.

[wreckoning]

I have haplotrema vancouverense, a medium-sized snail carnivorous native to my area, but they're pretty slow, and lazy as well. The only thing I've seen them catch are slug eggs and sweet potato. Supposedly Euglandina rosea, the rosy wolfsnail, is quite fast, and I hoped to find some while I was in Florida two months ago, but I was unable to find any (it was the off-season). 

My Cepaea nemoralis are decently fast, with a lot of variation between individuals.

Now my Limax maximus, those guys can move, and Deroceras reticulatum (field slugs) are the fastest gastropods I've personally seen.

I would be interested in doing an online race, if my slugs could participate!

There would be a lot of things to sort out though - what kind of surfaces would be allowed, trying to regulate how wet the surface would be, etc. That's the only way we could get a really fair comparison of speed. It can also be kind of tricky just to make snails go in a straight line.

[brunni]

I hear Ethiopian snails ( like their chickens ! ) are really F-A-S-T !

[andreiamlm]

Fascinating!
I'm Portuguese and didn't know we had a special snail species! they are really cute...

[tsrebel]

andreiamlm: I think there are several snail species who only live on Madeira. There may be some on the mainland that don't live anywhere else as well, but I don't really know much about Portugese snails.

wreckoning: It seems that the "straight line"-issue has been solved by using a circular surface and the race start in the middle. I think we should allow food outside of the circular track. The surface could be plastic.

[flintus]

Actually after thinking more, amphidromus sp. are extremely quick!

[okita]

This is more from research than personal experience, but the fastest snail species is usually said to be the moss bladder snail! Aquatic snails are pretty speedy as far as snails go and I know I really love to watch them crawl around.