This snail species is a sea snail, which means it lives in salt water, or ‘mildly salty’ water. No, periwinkle snails cannot live in freshwater. Can Periwinkle Snails Live in Freshwater? They tend to favor mud flats, boggy grass areas, and tidal estuaries, and have now become one of the most common types of snails found on coasts of the North Atlantic. You’ll also find these gastropods in North America, after being introduced there in the later part of the 1850s. This includes around large rocks and boulders, in and around rock pools, and shingle or gravel beaches. They avoid open spaces where they can easily become prey to predators flying up in the air, but they can cluster in ‘good’ areas. This is especially the case along northern Europe – all the way from the UK to northern parts of Russia. Periwinkles spend their time along rocky beaches, and open coasts and shores, up to a depth of 60m. These sea snails are found all over the world, but the word ‘sea snail’ sometimes seems a little misleading. The color tends to go from darker at the bottom of the shell to lighter at the tip. The shells are usually darker than their garden snail cousins, very dark brown and grey, almost black in areas. Sometimes these tips can be bashed or sanded off by rock, sand, pebbles, other shells, and other things that get washed up on the shore. There’s usually between five and seven swirls or whorls, with a pointed tip at the top. The shell of this snail is very round, like a common garden snail. That gives you some idea of what it looks like. Most people actually confuse it with common garden snails and other similar land snail species. You’d never know this gastropod was a sea snail to look at. What Does the Periwinkle Snail Look Like? From the very bottom of the foot to the very tip of the spiral-shaped snail, it can reach heights of 2 inches (5.2 cm), over four to six whorls or spirals. With the body and the shell, combined, these snails can actually grow to a greater height than width. Larger species can grow to between 1 and 2 inches (3 to 5 cm), but above 1.5 inches (4 cm) is considered quite rare. The common periwinkle ( Littorina littorea) is the largest of all periwinkles, but the sea snails are still quite small. The common periwinkle is, as the name suggests, the most common. Some experts believe there are more than 80 in total. There are a few species and subspecies in the Littorinidae family.
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