Journies at home

By journiesathome

The chirality of gastropods

It's a long, circular story, which I 'll tell another time. 

Like now.  

It took me so long last night to fish the word 'chirality' out of my murky memory that I was too tired to write any more.
Apparently 90% of gastropods are dextral, twirling to the right.  Jean devoted a great part of his life to finding a left-twisting specimen, and he did.
When we bought the moulin we had to clear it out which was no mean feat because Jean was a hoarder.  770m2 of things, floor to ceiling. 
Among the things were crates and crates of snail shells, which I felt we had to keep out of respect for Jean's endeavours.   That sentiment was soon crushed under the weight of stuff and fatigue.  There were so many shells we could have made a beach, so I chucked them, knowing that somewhere amongst them was a sinistral. 
Yesterday, clearing a forgotten cupboard, I found more.  I blipped them for posterity, out of respect for Jean and for the one snail that twisted the other way. 
It would be like snails devoting their lives to finding left-handed people.  A long, slow process.  And yes, I do feel bad. 

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