Question

Snails can eat diatoms or not?

Answer 1

Explanation:

Many species of snails, like the Trochus genus of snails, can eat diatoms.

1. Unlike snails, fishes also can eat diatoms like Suckermouth catfish. Snails are great algae eaters with a good appetite.
2. Diatoms belong to the kingdom Protista. They are eukaryotic and unicellular in nature.
3. They are found in fresh as well as marine water.
4. Diatoms have a cell wall which is called Shell or frustules. They have silica in their shell wall. Diatoms have overlapping shell walls. The color of the shell of the diatoms is generally transparent.
5. They have cellulose in their cell wall due to which the cell wall appears to be made up of silica.
6. Cell wall of diatoms consists of chloroplast containing pigments. These pigments are xanthophylls, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll c. This xanthophyll is also known as Fucoxanthin. Due to these pigments, it appears in golden colour.
7. Diatoms are immotile as they do not have flagella. They usually move in free water. Movement in diatoms is possible due to slimy secretion. This slimy secretion is an oily material excreted by the diatoms.
8. There are two types of Diatoms: Pennate and Centric.
9. Solution: So, the answer is some snails can eat diatoms.