What is snail slime – and why is it shiny?

Why are snail tracks shiny? – Liliana, 8 years elderly, Dublin, Ireland

Snails produce a lot of sludgeand it is extremely useful for them.

Snail mucus is a mixture of substances. It is mostly water mixed with proteins and a bit of carbohydrates and minerals, formed into a kind of jelly. This jelly is called “mucus”. It is not so different from the runny nose that comes out of your nose when you have a cool.

Snails produce two types of mucus. The part of the snail that is noticeable outside the shell, touching the substrate, is called the foot. Snail moves the muscles in the foot in the waves to move along the ground. The waves can only move in one direction, so the snail cannot go backwards. It must slowly turn around if it wants to go back the same way.

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The slime from the snail’s foot helps it move smoothly and also helps it stick to the surface it’s on. This means the snails can climb up walls and upside down on ceilings.

Another type of mucus comes from the snail’s body. One reason this happens is to prevent the snail from drying out. Although the snail has a shell to hide in, once it comes out it is vulnerable to drying out because it has a gentle body. The mucus coating helps keep the water inside.

Snails also leave a chemical trail in their mucus that other snails can employ to find them, for example when looking for a mate. However, this chemical trail also allows animals that might want to eat the snail to follow it. For example, not all snails eat plants, and there are predatory snails which hunt and eat other snails.

If possible, the snail will hide in its shell when attacked, but sometimes that is not enough. The snail can defend yourself by producing a lot of mucus from glands on the body. When this mucus is released, it mixes with air to create a sticky, foamy coating. This makes it very disgusting for a predator.

Snails produce mucus all over their bodies and it is produced all the time. Anything that sticks to the mucus will soon be left behind as the snail sheds its mucus and produces more. This means that any nasty germs that stick to the mucus are expelled before they reach the snail’s skin.

But why are snail slime trails shiny? The slime comes out of the snail in a lean layer. At first, it is soggy and very polished. So the slime acts like a mirror and that is why it appears shiny. As it starts to droughty out, it becomes more lumpy and loses its shine.

Useful slime

We humans also produce mucus inside our bodies, often for similar reasons to snails. For example, we need to move food from our mouths to our stomachs and through our intestines. We do this using waves of muscle contractions, and the mucus helps everything move smoothly.

A layer of constantly moving mucus gets rid of germs and that is why when we have a cool, we produce a lot of mucus in our nose – catarrh.

Snail slime is also used by humans. Some people believe that snail slime is good for the skin and can be purchased face cream inside which there is snail slime.

Scientists, including us, they found that the slime of some snails can kill nasty bugs that can cause illness in humans. In the future, snail slime may be used to treat certain diseases.