Mollusks use their Shells for protection. Most gastropods have a large, fleshy foot which is used for locomoation (green) Most gastropods … the feature common to all mollusks. Author has 161 answers and 78.9k answer views Snails protect themselves with the help of their Shell and Mucus. Snails, obviously, retract into their hard shells to protect their soft bodies, while slugs use their distasteful slime to make them unpalatable and hard to pick up. There are also marine gastropods … oysters, clams, scallops, mussels. Snails and slugs are both Gastropods. Gastropods, more commonly called snails and slugs, defend themselves in several ways. Gastropods, more commonly called snails and slugs, defend themselves in several ways. Gastropods, more commonly called snails and slugs, defend themselves in several ways. When attacked they will roll into a ball to protect themselves. how do shell-less gastropods defend themselves? The starfish are carnivorous, scavenging and even detritivore. Their diet is based on consuming mostly invertebrates, such as gastropods, barnacles, bivalves, polychaetes, snails, sponges and worms. Snails, obviously, retract into their hard shells to protect their soft bodies, while slugs use their distasteful slime to make them unpalatable and hard to pick up. The mouth cavity itself is lined with chitin and is associated with a pair of salivary glands. mollusks use their hard shells, if they have any, to protect themselves. There are also marine gastropods … Snails hide in their shells once they square measure vulnerable. Given their detritivore condition they can consume vegetables in a state of decomposition and also fecal materials. Among them, the violet sea snails or Janthina snails, which live their entire adult lives hanging upside-down from an air-filled bubble raft formed of chitin, the same substance in an arthropod's exoskeleton and an element of mollusk shells. The mouth is located on the underside of the animal, and contains a tongue-like structure called a radula, which has numerous rows of 17 teeth each.The teeth are coated with magnetite, a hard ferric/ferrous oxide mineral.The radula is used to scrape microscopic algae off the substratum. We're now getting into the marine gastropods, which dwarf the slugs and snails of the land by several thousand species. Gastropods Gastropoda is the most widespread class within Mollusca. abstrusus larvae , which is slightly lower than the 392 Ang. The shell protects snails from predators, and though they fall off things. Periwinkles (Littorina) in Europe and South Africa, queen conchs (Strombus gigas) in the West Indies, abalones (Haliotis) in California and Japan, and turban shells (Turbo) in the Pacific are the most frequently eaten marine snails.