The gastropod shell is an animal shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail.

It is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage.

In land snails the shell is an essential protection against the sun, and against drying out. The gastropod shell has several layers, and is typically made of calcium carbonate precipitated out into an organic matrix.

It is secreted by a part of the molluscan body known as the mantle. Not all gastropods have a shell, but the majority do.

The shell is in one piece, and is typically spirally coiled, although some groups, such as the various families of limpets, have simple cone-shaped shells as adults.

For more information about the topic Gastropod shell, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Animal shell — A shell is a hard, rigid outer layer, which has evolved in a very wide variety of different animals, including mollusks, sea urchins, crustaceans, ...  > read more

Snail — The name snail applies to most members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells. Other gastropods, which lack a conspicuous shell, ...  > read more

Mollusca — The molluscs or mollusks are the large and diverse phylum Mollusca, which includes a variety of familiar creatures well-known for their decorative ...  > read more

Scallop — Scallops are the family Pectinidae of bivalve molluscs. Like the true oysters they have a central adductor muscle, and thus their shells have a ...  > read more

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