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Name: Alyssa P.
Status: student
Age: 18
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 2/9/2004
Question:
If I were to measure the snail height, width, and diameter once a week for two months would I be able to see a difference in their shell size in the time span of those two months? If not, how long would it take to see a difference in their size?

Replies:
It will depend on the species of snail, its age, and environmental conditions. This paper documented growth of a marine snail, measured carefully with a 0.1 mm caliper over a period of several months:

This page shows some pictures of regrowth of a damaged snail shell:

http://www.biology.ucsc.edu/people/potts/lonhart/Lonhart_MMSposter.pdf

http://www.ruca.ua.ac.be/mct/snails.htm

In sum, for most healthy snails, if you use a very small measuring device, probably yes.

J. Elliott

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