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Bithynia tentaculata
Shell height up to 12 to15 mm, width 5 to 7 mm. Sometimes known as the 'Faucet Snail' it has a shiny pale brown shell, oval in shape, with a relatively large and rounded spire consisting of 5 to 6 somewhat flattened whorls, no umbilicus, and a very thick lip. The opening is less than half the height of the shell. It has a circular 'lid' (called an operculum) which can seal off the entrance to the shell giving protection. This snail has long pointed tentacles.
Found in weedy ponds and slow moving waterways.
The snail is sexually mature by the time the height of shell reaches 8 mm in size.
This common snail in England and Wales, but scarcer further north into Scotland.
Common in Leicestershire and Rutland.
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Species profile
- Common names
- Common Bithynia
- Species group:
- Slugs & Snails
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
- Order:
- Littorinimorpha
- Family:
- Bithyniidae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 51
- First record:
- 15/08/1981 (Nicholls, David)
- Last record:
- 17/02/2024 (Nicholls, David)
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