Plated Snail

About

Common Names

Plated Snails, Golden Snail; Miner's Mollusc

Classification

Mollusc

Plated Snails are a subterranean molluscs which are found in damp caves and mines throughout Annexea. Their metallic shells are believed to be grown from the ores of precious metals which they consume. Due to this believed association, miners consider these snails a good omen when prospecting for ore bearing rocks.

Description

Size

250-500 g (<1 pound), 7-15 cm (2-5 inches) total length, 6-12 cm (2-4 inches) shell length

Appearance: These snails have a coiled tear drop shaped shell that contains a mix of calcium and metals such as gold, platinum, silver, or even copper alloys, their fleshy bodies also form a series of hard scales along the exposed upper surface

Variance

Depending largely on the available metallic ore in their environment the shells of these animals can take on different metallic lustres, and even show banding of different colours over an individual snail's lifespan.

Ecology

Habitat

Subterranean, in damp or partially submerged caves.

Diet

Plated Snails are omnivorous, eating a variety of mosses, fungi, lichens, algae, and the occasional worms or insects they might capture.

Metal Eating

These snails do not ingest metals as food, but may scrape the surface of exposed mineral ores when feeding, The excess and toxic metals are excreted into their shell matrix such that as they grow new shell they incorporate the incidentally consumed metals.

Behaviour

Social Grouping

Solitary although larger groups of snails may be found in close proximity to each other if sufficient food is available to support increased numbers.

Temperament

Skittish, These snails will generally avoid larger animals and retreat from being touched.

Intelligence

Negligible.

Reproduction

Plated snails are hermaphrodites and will occasionally mate when they encounter a receptive partner. They lay a clutch of up to 200 tiny eggs in a moist location near a source of food. The eggs hatch within 30 days, and the emergent young begin seeking food immediately. It takes nearly 3 years for a snail of this species to reach reproductive age.

Sub-Species

While people may identify variants of this snail species based on the metals found in their shells, they are of a single species, and such differences are simply a matter of availability of those ores in their environment.

Domestication

General

While they may be kept as curiosities and good luck charms by miners and prospectors, these snails are not domesticated for any purpose.

Resources

Shells. While sometimes hunted for the metal in their shells, the amount of precious metal they contain is not significant source of wealth. However they do find use in jewellery crafting.