Snail fur

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Snail Fur
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Hydrozoa
Order: Filifera
Family: Hydractiniidae
Genus: Hydractinia
Species: H. echinata
Binomial name
Hydractinia echinata[1]
Fleming, 1823

Snail fur (Hydractinia echinata) is not fur at all but instead a covering of predatory hydroid polyps that tend to cover most of the outside of old snail shells where the snail has died. They are especially common on the outside of shells being occupied at the same time by flat-clawed hermit crabs.

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ ITIS- H. echinata. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
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