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Snail slime is a kind of mucus (an external bodily secretion) produced by snails, which are gastropod . and both produce mucus, as does every other kind of gastropod, from marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. The reproductive system of gastropods also produces mucus internally from special glands.
Chemically, the mucus produced by land-living gastropodes belongs to the class of glycosaminoglycans (previously called mucopolysaccharides). Externally, one kind of mucus is produced by the foot of the gastropod and is usually used for crawling. The other kind of external mucus has evolved to coat the external parts of the gastropod's body; in land species, this coating helps prevent desiccation of the exposed soft tissues. The foot mucus of a gastropod has some of the qualities of glue and some of the qualities of a lubricant, allowing land snails to crawl up vertical surfaces without falling off.
The slime trail that a land gastropod leaves behind is often visible as a silvery track on surfaces such as stone or concrete.
The mucus of is not only used as a coating to cover the surfaces on which the snail crawls and a coating to cover the exposed soft parts of the body but also sometimes to allow a resting snail to adhere passively to surfaces, such as rock. Gastropod mucus adhesion uses a temporary sealing structure called the epiphragm.Hickman, C., Roberts, L. and Larson, A. (2002). Principios integrales de Zoología.
11°. Ed. McGraw- Hill Interamericana. España. Pp 328, 329, 330, 333.
98 (Spanish translation) Mucus is produced by a Suprapedal gland located below the snail's mouth. (2025). 9780030259821, Thomson-Brooks/Cole. ISBN 9780030259821
The foot of gastropods is covered with a thin layer of this mucus, which is used for a variety of functions, including locomotion, adherence, lubrication, repulsing predators, recognizing other snails, following a trail to a known destination and during reproduction. The discharge looks like a gel and it contains approximately 91 to 98% water by weight, depending on the species, combined with a small amount of high molecular weight . In Cornu aspersum, these glycoproteins reach weights of 82, 97 and 175 kDa.
Land mollusks travel by adhesive locomotion via muscular waves that propagate from tail to head. The snail mucus has an adapted rheology that allows transmittance of the muscular force while maintaining adhesion. When inactive, many mollusks of both marine and terrestrial species, use the secretion to stick to various surfaces. However, although it is so diluted that it can commonly act as a lubricant, it can also have strong adhesive properties. In their unique mating ritual, Limax maximus use a mucus thread to suspend themselves from elevated locations like tree branches. In Cornu aspersum, there are three types of secretion. One type is translucent and not adhesive, the kind that the snail leaves behind as it moves (the slime trail), another is similar but thicker, condensed, more viscosity and elastic, which is used to adhere to various surfaces, and a third viscous coating on the dorsal surface that is a protective barrier. Both are clearly differentiated by the type of proteins present in them.Ibid.
A new generation of tissue adhesive has been developed by using natural adhesion phenomena and mechanisms, such as snail mucus gel, which exhibits excellent haemostatic activity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. It is effective in accelerating the wound healing of full-thickness skin wounds in both normal and diabetic male rats.
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