Differences between a slug and a snail

Today, I showed my toddler a snail while we were taking a walk in the estate. An eight-year-old child passed by and was excited to see the snail too. I overheard the child's mother asking, "Do you know what is the difference between a snail and a slug?"

I thought it would be interesting to write a short post on this. The main difference between a snail and a slug is that a snail has a shell while a slug does not.

Other features are the same for snails and slugs:
- they move around on a flat, muscular foot.
- they have one or two pairs of tentacles on their heads. The larger pair of tentacles usually has eyes at the end.
- they eat using a tongue-like organ called a radula, covered with rows of teeth.
- most of them have both male and female reproductive organs and hence are hermaphrodites.

Slug

Snail