What do gastropods eat?

Herbivorous gastropods can be grazers, filter feeders or bottom feeders, while carnivorous gastropods are scavengers or predators. Common gastropod fare includes plants, fruits and vegetables or algae. Some gastropods eat decaying plants, and some also eat dirt when they need minerals in their diets.

Gastropods include land snails and slugs as well as periwinkles, conchs and numerous other species that live in marine or freshwater environments. There are between 60,000 and 80,000 living species of these molluscs, so gastropods exhibit a wide variety of feeding behaviors. What they eat depends on the species in question and the food available in its natural habitat.