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Description

Small and humble, but wonderfully complex - that's my main impression about snails. These small mollusks have an extremely specialized, asymmetrical, spiral-shaped internal anatomy and a huge hermaphroditic reproductive system. They shoot each other with calcified 'love darts' during their slow, deliberate, and oddly complex mating rituals. They have eyes at the end of telescopic stalks. They eat with a muscular rasping tongue covered with tiny 'teeth'. What's not to love?

This is another one of the illustrations for a series of biology textbooks published by the Finnish National Agency for Education. The books are aimed for students who need extra support, such as those with learning difficulties, or immigrants still learning the language. So, the main focus of illustrations was to make them as clear and easily understood as possible, sometimes even if that meant a slight clash with factual accuracy. An interesting challenge!

The anatomy illustrations were all paired by a photo of the same animal in the exact same position to make it easier for the students to see what the structures look on the outside. The model for this one was a snail I collected from a park nearby. The exact species might be Helicigona lapicida.

Description

Small and humble, but wonderfully complex - that's my main impression about snails. These small mollusks have an extremely specialized, asymmetrical, spiral-shaped internal anatomy and a huge hermaphroditic reproductive system. They shoot each other with calcified 'love darts' during their slow, deliberate, and oddly complex mating rituals. They have eyes at the end of telescopic stalks. They eat with a muscular rasping tongue covered with tiny 'teeth'. What's not to love?

This is another one of the illustrations for a series of biology textbooks published by the Finnish National Agency for Education. The books are aimed for students who need extra support, such as those with learning difficulties, or immigrants still learning the language. So, the main focus of illustrations was to make them as clear and easily understood as possible, sometimes even if that meant a slight clash with factual accuracy. An interesting challenge!

The anatomy illustrations were all paired by a photo of the same animal in the exact same position to make it easier for the students to see what the structures look on the outside. The model for this one was a snail I collected from a park nearby. The exact species might be Helicigona lapicida.