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| shelled snails text index | photo index |
| Phylum Mollusca > Class Gastropoda |
| Olive
snails Family Olividae updated Sep 11 Where seen? These bullet-shaped snails are sometimes seen on the silty sandy shores near seagrasses. Elsewhere, they are common in well-aerated, clean sand. Features: 2-3cm. Shell cylindrical and looks like an olive. The shell opening is narrow and many members of this family do not have an operculum. Like a cowrie, the living olive snail envelopes its shell in its mantle. This is why the shell is so glossy. Most are burrowers that live in the sand. Relying mostly on the sense of smell to find their prey, their eyes are greatly reduced or absent. Olive snails are notoriously variable in colour, even within the same species. What do they eat? Olive snails are predators. They feed on other snails, small crustaceans and also scavenge on dead animals. An Olive snail remains in the sand while it sticks its siphon above the surface. When it 'smells' suitable prey, it emerges to engulf the prey with its large foot, smothering it with slime and then dragging it beneath the sand to be eaten at leisure. Human uses: Although sometimes collected for food, they are mainly collected for their attractive shells for the shell trade. Status and threats: The Orange-mouth olive snail (Oliva serica) is orange at the shell opening and is listed among the threatened animals of Singapore. Like other creatures of the intertidal zone, the rest of they are affected by human activities such as reclamation and pollution. Trampling by careless visitors and overcollection can also have an impact on local populations. |
 Changi, Jun 06  Burrowing in the sand. Changi, Jun 06 |
Olive snails on Singapore shores
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| Unidentified olive snails |
 Chek Jawa, Jul 08  |
 Changi, Jun 06  |
 Changi, Jun 09  |
shared by Neo Mei Lin on her blog |
| Family
Olividae recorded for Singapore from Tan Siong Kiat and Henrietta P. M. Woo, 2010 Preliminary Checklist of The Molluscs of Singapore. in red are those listed among the threatened animals of Singapore from Davison, G.W. H. and P. K. L. Ng and Ho Hua Chew, 2008. The Singapore Red Data Book: Threatened plants and animals of Singapore.
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Links
References
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Graham Brash, Singapore. 145 pp.|
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