Lonely snail is mirror image

A scientist is looking to the public for help in finding a mate for a lonely snail.

The common garden mollusc, named Jeremy, may appear like other snails to the naked eye, but has been dubbed a “one in a million find” as it is the mirror image of how other snails appear.

Jeremy’s shell spirals in an anti-clockwise direction which means it is unable to mate with more common snails whoseshells spiral in the opposite way.

The “lefty” snail was discovered in a compost heap in south-west London and sent to Dr Angus Davison at the University of Nottingham.

He is now hoping to find Jeremy a mate in a bid to discover more about his genetics.

Dr Davison, associate professor and reader in evolutionary genetics, said: “This really is an exciting find – I have

“Two lefty snails would be far more valuable to us”

been studying snails for morethan20yearsandI have never seen one of these before.

“We are very keen to study the snail’s genetics to find out whether this is a result of a developmental glitch or whether this is a genuine inherited genetic trait.

“Sna i l s a re hermaphrodites, meaning that if they want to they can reproduce on their own without the need for another mate.

“However, they don’t really like doing this and from our perspective, the genetic data from offspring of two lefty snails would be far richer and more valuable to us.”

He is now looking for another snail whose shell spirals in an anticlockwise direction.

Anyone who finds a lefty snail is asked to e-mail a photo to angus. davison@ nottingham.ac.uk or tweet it using #snaillove.