Zebra Snail
Scientific name: Austrocochlea porcata
Click to enlarge image
Zebra Snail, Austrocochlea porcata, showing variations in pattern
Image: Dr Isobel Bennett
© Australian Museum
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
-
Classification
- Genus
- Austrocochlea
- Species
- porcata
- Family
- Trochidae
- Super Family
- Trochoidea
- Order
- Trochida
- Subclass
- Vetigastropoda
- Class
- Gastropoda
- Phylum
- Mollusca
- Kingdom
- Animalia
-
- Size Range
- 2.5 cm
-
- Feeding Habits
- herbivore
The Zebra Snail, so named because of the black-and-white striped pattern often seen in this species, is extremely common and no two individuals are identical.
Identification
The Zebra Snail has a black-and-white striped pattern on the shell. Environmental conditions as well as diet affect the width and colouring of the stripes.
Habitat
Zebra Snails live on intertidal rocky shores.
Distribution
The Zebra snail is found in south-eastern Australia from Townsville in Queensland to Geraldton in Western Australia.
Distribution data sourced from the Atlas of Living Australia
Feeding and diet
The Zebra Snail is a herbivore, scraping algae off rocks with its raspy tongue or radula. At certain times of the year the algae contain a substance that the Zebra Snail excretes into its shell to form a darkened band.
