How to Use gastropod in a Sentence

gastropod

noun
  • After that were barnacles, then gastropods [such as snails and slugs], then bivalves such as clams.
    — Mark Fischetti, Scientific American, 30 Aug. 2019
  • Few people will ever see a scaly-foot gastropod, but that doesn’t change their preciousness.
    — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 15 May 2026
  • The discovery of the excrement is believed to be the first case of gastropods feeding on the rust.
    — Maria Cramer, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2020
  • This can happen if the gastropods eat the rat poop or if the ravenous larvae just bore into their soft bodies.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 22 Sep. 2023
  • The size and shape of the tooth marks pointed to gastropods and octopuses as the likely culprits.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 24 July 2023
  • The free-floating creatures eat pelagic gastropods, notably snails.
    — Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Apr. 2023
  • Most of the gastropods were so small they could be distinguished only under a microscope.
    — Robert Kunzig, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
  • The only way for this laggard gastropod to rack up its air miles is to be eaten by a bird and excreted out the other end.
    — Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 18 Oct. 2011
  • Other rodents then eat the gastropods and become infected with the disease.
    — Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Mar. 2026
  • But the three-inch gastropods haven’t been seen on the island of Kauai since the mid-1900s and are presumed extinct.
    — Maddie Bender, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Jan. 2025
  • While gastropods and bivalves are the main draw of both Sanibel and Captiva, even non-shellers find reasons to get out on the sand.
    — Skye Sherman, Travel + Leisure, 15 Sep. 2025
  • The carrier shell snail, a gastropod, earned its name by attaching shells and sea clutter to its own shell as protection and disguise.
    — National Geographic, 12 Jan. 2023
  • The ranger explained the anatomy and diet of the slug to Cleveland and the group of young campers, and asked if any of them was brave enough to kiss the slimy gastropod.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 16 Sep. 2020
  • The gastropods, which are similar to snails, are generally more plentiful on the beaches.
    — Julie Gallant, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Slowik said the cool, damp weather this summer in Southcentral Alaska may have played a role in the gastropods’ latest move.
    — Annie Berman, Anchorage Daily News, 2 Aug. 2023
  • The form recalls the work’s titular gastropod—massive, coiled, immobilized by its own weight.
    — Anel Rakhimzhanova, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2026
  • The new species was found with sediment that included mollusks and other brackish-water gastropods, according to the study.
    — Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 5 Feb. 2025
  • Sea angels’ lovely outward appearance and name belie their status as a kind of sea slug, related to other forms of snails in the gastropod class.
    — National Geographic, 7 Sep. 2017
  • Millions of gastropods, like snails and mollusks from various species, died suddenly in Inle Lake.
    — Lauren Liebhaber september 5, Miami Herald, 5 Sep. 2025
  • The resulting creation, an art car called The Golden Mean, is a golden gastropod that glows in the dark and shoots rings of fire from its feelers.
    — Lewis Wallace, WIRED, 29 Aug. 2008
  • The problem is due in part to the gastropod’s low population, but also to infertility and lethargy caused by warming waters.
    — Alexa Robles-Gil, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Sep. 2024
  • Along the shoreline, billions of marine invertebrates—barnacles, mussels, oysters, clams, gastropods, crabs, sea stars—cooked alive.
    — Marion Renault, The New Republic, 3 May 2023
  • But the gastropods weren’t visiting for a tropical vacation in French Polynesia.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 May 2023
  • This gastropod is the scaly-foot snail (Chrysomallon squamiferum), perhaps the world’s most metal animal.
    — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 15 May 2026
  • The parasite’s usual life cycle involves infected rodents passing the larvae through their feces, which is then eaten by gastropods, such as snails and slugs, according to the study.
    — Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Mar. 2026
  • Rare gastropods and bivalves that have adapted to volcanic and hydrothermal-influenced habitats, as well as a possible new species of black coral, were also among the discoveries.
    — Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 30 Oct. 2025
  • Humans can also get infected by eating raw produce—like leafy greens—that have been contaminated with slug slime because the L3 larvae are shed in the gastropods' slime trail.
    — Ars Technica, 11 Mar. 2025
  • Inspired by gastropod’s locomotion, Wavy-sheet can generate continuous traveling waves on the whole soft body.
    — Erico Guizzo, IEEE Spectrum, 2 June 2017
  • But a potential solution to one of the biggest threats of coffee production has been found in the bright orange excrement of a voracious gastropod called the Asian trampsnail.
    — Maria Cramer, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2020
  • First, its closest relatives by appearance — soft-bodied marine gastropods called nudibranchs — generally live in much shallower water.
    — Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 12 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gastropod.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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