Operculum (gastropod)
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An operculum is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure like a trapdoor that exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails, including the Hel
Shell of marine snail Lunella torquata with the calcareous operculum in place
Gastropod shell of the freshwater snail Viviparus contectus with corneous operculum in place
Penion sulcatus near Goat Island, New Zealand, with a damaged operculum
Freshwater snail Bithynia tentaculata, showing how the back of the shell rests on the round operculum on top of the foot as the snail moves along
Strombidae
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Strombidae, commonly known as the true conchs, is a taxonomic family of medium-sized to very large sea snails in the superfamily Stromboidea, and the Epifamily Neostromboidae. The term true conchs, be
Operculum (gastropod)
…families have opercula that are reduced in size, and which are not capable of closing the shell aperture. Opercula have sometimes been modified: in the Strombidae the operculum is claw-shaped and is used to push into the substrate in a leaping form of locomotion. Virtually all pulmonate snails are inoperculate…
Strombidae
A live scorpion conch (Lambis scorpius) in Mayotte. One can see the eyes as well as the scythe-shaped operculum.
Live Conomurex decorus in La Réunion.
Live Lentigo lentiginosus in La Réunion.