Snails may seem unremarkable, but some species display striking colours and patterns that rival gemstones. Here are five of ...

Ned, a pale-bodied snail crawls across a leaf in a small town in the Waiararapa, New Zealand, on Aug. 22, 2025. (Giselle Clarkson via AP) I knew that there were right-eyed and left-eyed flounder, but ...

How does a stripy tree snail hide from hungry birds? The Hypselostyla camelopardalis from the Philippines and Reinia variegata from Japan have both evolved a form of dynamic camouflage to survive.

Tucked among the reefs of tropical seas is a sea snail whose beautifully patterned shell hides one of the ocean’s most sophisticated weapons. Prized by collectors for its appearance, the cone snail ...

Cuban-painted snails come in a variety of beautifully colored shells. The snail's shell diameter averages about 22 to 30 millimeters (.87 to 1.18 inches). Each snail's shell has a unique combination ...

Snail shells are often colourful and strikingly patterned. This is due to pigments that are produced in special cells of the snail and stored in the shell in varying concentrations. Fossil shells, on ...

A genetic spin doctor sets snail shells to swirl clockwise, new research confirms. And the twist in this story comes at the beginning — when snail embryos are just single cells. Working at the Tokyo ...

They're neither white and gold or black and blue. But in an optical puzzle akin to The Dress, colourful snails are causing scientists turn to technology to definitively decide whether some snails' ...

Two tree-snail species change color in the rain to blend with wet bark (left). Water enters microscopic shell pores to reveal a dark layer underneath (right) — a power-free trick inspiring future ...