Fish and Marine Life Illustrations


Colored pencil and watercolor study of an orb snail shell, with a flat brown spiral and bright curved highlights.

Orb Snail (Gastropoda), colored pencil and watercolor

About the illustration:
Commissioned by: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

About orb snails:
Orb snails are lunged snails, as opposed to gilled snails. They eat rotting plants and algae. Snails have their eyes and mouth on their foot. The shell is made of calcium carbonate. They are macroinvertebrates, which essentially means they are small invertebrates but not so small that a microscope is needed in order to see them.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda

More about orb snails:
Environmental Education for Kids: Orb, Gilled, and Pouch Snails