One species, over a hundred names The seaside marine snail Littorina saxatilis is the most misidentified creature in the world, The Guardian reported in 2015.

Live-bearing has allowed Littorina snails to occupy and adapt to a diverse range of habitats. This has led to the evolution many ‘ecotypes’ that vary in their size, shape and behavior.

The snails in question are in a genus called Littorina, which are largely distributed around the North Atlantic. Many of these species lay eggs, but a number of them have transitioned to live births.

What most people don’t know is that there are three snails that live in the intertidal zone in the Gulf of Maine that go by the name "periwinkle." The one most of us know is the common ...

Live-bearing has allowed Littorina snails to occupy and adapt to a diverse range of habitats. This has led to the evolution many 'ecotypes' that vary in their size, shape and behavior.

Zoologger is our weekly column highlighting extraordinary animals – and occasionally other organisms – from around the world. Species: Littorina saxatilis Habitat: shorelines of the North ...

A ‘PARTHENITA’ containing furcocerous and tailless stages of a gymnophalline cercaria was found in the hæmolymph spaces of the digestive gland, gonad and gonoduct of the gastropod Littorina ...