AI Shell & Snail Identifier

A hollow in the rock after the tide goes out, and the garden wall after rain. Almost everything in this guide lives in one of those two places.

SEVENTY-SIX, AND EVERY ONE OF THEM CAN BE LOOKED UP FROM A PHOTO Shells: 16 (Ruditapes, Haliotis, Conus, Turbo and others) Land snails and slugs of the world: 28 (Achatina, the large European snails and others) Tide-pool hermit crabs, sea stars and urchins: 14 (Coenobita, Linckia, Pseudocentrotus and others) Crabs: 9 (Chiromantes, Portunus, Geothelphusa and others) Sea slugs and sea hares: 9 (Hypselodoris, Aplysia and others) Most guide apps end up with a long catalogue and a short list of things the camera can actually handle. Here the two numbers are the same. Nothing is in the book purely as decoration.

NAMES GO AS FAR AS THE GENUS A sea snail or a garden snail usually cannot be taken down to species from one photo, so the answer stops at the genus. At most three candidates, each with one of three words: very similar, similar, or possibly similar. When it cannot be confident it stays quiet. Photograph something outside the 76 and it is not nudged toward the nearest match.

BEFORE YOU TAKE ANYTHING HOME Even shells and snails are protected by local rules in some places. Please check the rules where you are before taking anything away. Do not touch spined animals or anything that might be venomous; watch and photograph from a distance. This app does not judge whether something is dangerous.