It is well known that most snails are hermaphroditic, which means that they have both penis and female reproductive system. However, there are other kinds of snail that are only male or female. Whatever its gender, a snail cannot fertilize itself, so it needs a partner to reproduce. But how do snails reproduce? Below reveals in detail what for many is a mystery.
Mating seasons
Regarding the ideal time to reproduce, these invertebrate mollusks prefer spring and autumn because the climate tends to be more temperate, but also quite humid. With a life expectancy of 5 to 7 years, after exceeding 6 or 8 months of age the snail is considered sexually mature.
Seduction game
First, courtship between two snails begins. This game of seduction is presented with the mollusks moving in circles around each other feeling each other with their mouths, and this is how they intertwine their bodies. And it is that as absurd as it may seem, snails also play preliminaries during the mating process, which usually lasts about 20 minutes. These animals need to be excited before copulation, and for that they resort to the calcareous dart of their morphology, located inside the genital orifice.
Copulation
During copulation, one of the snails inserts its dart into the female reproductive system of the other and both wait for it to lodge in the oval pouch of the vagina.
In snails’ reproduction is extremely long, lasting between 10 and 12 hours. This is because after that time is when the eggs are mature and willing to receive the sperm with which to carry out fertilization.
During reproduction, which occurs at night, both snails release strands of DNA at each other in the form of calcium carbonate. When received in the female reproductive system, they dissolve and release sperm. After 10 or 12 hours the eggs mature and accept the sperm, as mentioned, and this action causes both snails to be fertilized, forming eggs inside.
Eggs
After 15 or 20 days, the snails dig a hole underground with their head and foot where they deposit their fertilized eggs, turning it into a nest. Mollusks expel between 50 and 80 eggs of about 3 mm from their genital orifices above this hole. Other snail species can lay around 200 eggs, such as Chinese snails, and even up to 700, such as African Achatina snails.
Birth
Finally, after 16 or 30 days the eggs hatch and the young are born, which remain in the nest for 3 or 5 more days until they leave it. To get outside, they devour the membrane that covers their egg, which provides proteins and mineral salts, as well as the soil that covers their nest. That’s when these snails begin the cycle of life.
Reproduction of other species
If knowing how snails reproduce seems curious to you, then you cannot miss some articles in which we explain the reproductive process of other animals. Find out how sharks reproduce or how other animals reproduce and discover a little more about the natural world.
If you want to read similar articles to How snails reproduce, we recommend that you enter our category of The Animal World.