Similar Shell Features between Rear and Wild Cornu aspersum Snails

Abstract

Body weight, shell’s diameter, shell’s’ thickness, shell’s mechanical strength and chemical composition of the hypostracum of reared and wild snails (Cornu aspersum) were analyzed. Wild adult individuals were collected from Crete (Greece) and compared with adult individual snails reared under laboratory conditions. Α standard layer diet supplemented with 20% calcium was used as snails’ diet. An EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectrometry) method was used for the analysis of the hypostracum. The EDS analysis was made by the use of a scanning electron microscope. Calcium, oxygen, carbon and silicon were the chemical elements that they were detected at the C. aspersum hypostracum. No statistical difference was recorded between the chemical elements of the hypostracum of reared snails and of the wild ones. Both groups had similar body weight, shell mechanical strength and shell thickness.