Qualitative Characteristics and Suture Measurements of Two Breeds of Snail Reared in Nigeria

Heliculture is gradually gaining more attention in Nigeria. There are still constraint to snail production en mass which include breed and strain identification, feeding, management and health. In this study, the Qualitative characteristics and suture measurement of two breed of snails were observed. A total of 90 snails comprising of 50 Archachatina marginata and 40 Achatina achatina were purchased at different markets in towns around Ayetoro. Most (64%) of the A. marginata had brown shell colour, a few (36%) had brown with light yellow shell colour. 100% of A. achatina had brown with light brown-yellow shell colour. 22% of A. marginata had black foot, 64% had brown and 14% had brown-black foot colour. 100% of A. achatina had brown-black foot colour. There is a significant difference (P<0.01) in the brown-black foot colour of A. achatina and A. marginata. 94% of A. marginata had broad and wide apex, 6% had pointed apex, (0%) narrow and wider apex while 100% A. achatina had narrow and wider apex. A. achatina had zig zag thick brown lines on the shell which was significantly different (P<0.01) from the A. marginata. The distance between the 1st and 2nd suture, 2nd and 3rd suture of A. marginata respectively (1.69±0.08, 0.79±0.04) cm is longer than the respective lengths (1.59±0.03, 0.78±0.02) cm of A. achatina. This distance in suture of the 1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 4th and 5th of A. marginata is not significantly different (P>0.01) from A. achatina, the 2nd and 3rd suture is significantly different (P<0.01). Snail live weight is highly positively correlated with the distance between the 1st and 2nd suture (0.889) and the 2nd and 3rd suture (0.718) in A. marginata and A. achatina respectively. The SLW is determined more by the distance between the 4th and 5th suture in A. marginata.