The present study has evaluated the usage and properties of the mollusca phylum from the history to today. Many types of molluscs are eaten worldwide, either cooked or raw due to their rich nutritional value. Furthermore, they are used as pearl, cowry and accessory materials, for tools like household dishes, cooking pots and utensils such as a spoon, cutlery, scoops, spatulas, etc. Some of them are destructive and caused ecological damage, some serve as intermediate hosts for human parasites; some can cause damage to crops. Mollusc meat is known to be highly nutritious and salutary owing to its high content of essential amino acids, proteins, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. In addition, some of the bioactive compounds including antiviral, antimicrobial, antiprotozoal, antifungal, antihelminthic and anticancer products are producing by molluscs as medicines. The largest edible snail is African land snail Achatina achatina mostly consumed by African people. Molluscs were very prominent dishes during the Roman Empire due to their aphrodisiac effect. Some mollusc species include zinc and essential amino acids which keeping up body energy and boost sex drive as an aphrodisiac, arrange immune system and makes bones stronger. Pearls are highly esteemed bivalve products containing nacreous deposit composed of 82 -86% calcium carbonate (aragonite crystals), 10-14% organic substance conchiolin and 2-4% water. Cowry is amarine snail from genus Cypraea dwelling on mostly in coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans and used instead of money. Money cowry (Cypraea moneta), a 2.5cm yellow species, has served as currency in Africa.

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Ambigolimax valentianus (A. Férussac, 1822), the three-band garden slug, is originally native to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and the Balearic Islands); however, it has been spread by human activities to many other parts of the world. There is no distributional record of the slug in Turkey to date. The species was recorded for the first time in Turkey during a biological survey carried out in the accommodation area of Dicle University (Diyarbakır) in October 2017. Some of the slugs were transferred to the laboratory for their morphological determination and dissection. Notably, more than 50 species of slugs dwell on Turkish lands and most of them are distributed in the Northern Anatolia Region. A. valentianus is observed here for the first time on Turkish lands. The purpose of the study is to present the first record of A. valentianus in Turkey and contribute to the checklist of Turkish gastropods.

Abstract:The purpose of this work is to reveal the fatty acid composition of phospholipids, neutral and total lipid content of edible land snails Helix lucorum, Eobania vermiculata and non-edible land slug Limax flavus (Gastropoda: Pulmonata). The analyses revealed that the snails and slug are rich in C16:0, C18:0, C18:1ω9 and C18:2ω6 acids. Phospholipid fractions contained very high amounts of C20:4ω6 (15.37% in H. lucorum, 12.37% in E. vermiculata and 8.59% in L. flavus) which is the most important precursor of eicosanoids. The level of ΣPUFA, in edible snails, was found to be higher than ΣSFA and ΣMUFA. However, in the slug, ΣMUFA level was higher than ΣSFA and ΣPUFA levels in neutral and total lipid contents. Ʃω6 / Ʃω3 (Omega 6 / Omega 3) ratio was defined to be very high in the phospholipid of H. lucorum, E. vermiculata and L. flavus; 6.07, 8.29 and 5.39, respectively. Furthermore, the study showed that all three species are valuable sources of omega 6 and essential fatty acids; C18:2ω6 and C18:3ω6.