Great pond snail

Egg-laying hermaphrodite: lays sausage-shaped gelatinous egg masses on surfaces; prefers to outcross but can self-fertilise. Eggs to breeding adults can take as little as two months.

The story of the great pond snail

A large pond snail native across the temperate Northern Hemisphere (Europe, Asia and North America). It grazes algae and plants and will also eat carrion and other snails' eggs.

Carl Linnaeus described this large snail in 1758. It is common across the northern hemisphere and has become an important laboratory animal for studying how nerve cells and memory work.

First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.

• Its large nerve cells make it a classic model for brain research.
• It breathes air through a breathing pore at the surface.
• It is a hermaphrodite and can fertilise its own eggs.