The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium reported that marine mollusks and their shells are well known in Southwest Florida, but people often overlook terrestrial mollusks, such as land and tree snails and slugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese animals play important roles in the region\u2019s ecosystem and food web and have beautiful shells of their own,\u201d it shared. \u201cOur understanding of the diversity and abundance of land snail species in Southwest Florida is very limited.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal of the museum\u2019s Snail Search of Lee County is to record observations of land snails for baseline information. The local community can participate in the project by:<\/p>\n
\u2013 Downloading the iNaturalist app and creating a free account.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Going out and finding snails and slugs.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Taking clear photos of observations. Photos should be as close as possible and clearly focused.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Uploading to the iNaturalist app \u2014 the observation will automatically be added to the project page \u2014 or emailing the photo, with location information and a date, to jfalker@shellmuseum.org. Information \u2014 GPS coordinates or exact address, date and time \u2014 are required for each photo sent via email.<\/p>\n
For more information, visit ShellMuseum.org\/learn-and-experience\/community-science<\/a>.<\/p>\n