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How do snails get shells?
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*** g03 1/22 Jewels From the Seashore ***
Growing in Spurts?Drilling for Food
Murex shells from all over the world tend to be intricately shaped. I found two species, the beautiful pink and brown royal murex and the equally attractive root murex. Where do their spiny ridges come from? Mollusks create ridges, called varices, during periods of slow shell growth. Between the ridges you can see shell material that was produced during growth spurts. The book Shells?Treasures of the Sea explains: ?Adding new shell consumes so much energy that many gastropods slow down their metabolism and go into a period of inactivity so more energy can be devoted to rapid shell growth. Usually the animal will bury itself or hide in some other manner to avoid disturbance from predators. . . . The growth spurt may last from a few days to several weeks, depending on the species of mollusk.?