These snails can be found worldwide. They live usually in brackish water and salt marshes of tropical and temperate regions, at beaches, in water and at land.
Description
These are very small to medium large snails, between 2 and 13 mm). Some adults do not exceed a size of 3 mm. The shape of the thin shells is somewhat ovately conical. The margin of the aperture is simple. The operculum is in most cases horny. The eyes are at the end of short, stout stalks. They feed on vegetable detritus and small algae. They lay their eggs in the mud, and hatch as free-swimming larvae.
Species
According to the World Register of Marine Species, the following species with valid names are included within the genus Assiminea :
Assiminea aurifera Preston, 1912
Assiminea avilai van Aartsen, 2008
Assiminea bella Kuroda, 1958
Assiminea brevicula (Pfeiffer, 1854)
Assiminea californica (Tryon, 1865): California assiminea
Assiminea compacta (Carpenter, 1864)
Assiminea cornea (Leith, 1853)
Assiminea dubiosa (C.B. Adams, 1852)
Assiminea estuarina Habe, 1946
Assiminea geayi Lamy, 1910
Assiminea gittenbergeri van Aartsen, 2008
Assiminea glaubrechti van Aartsen, 2008
Assiminea globulus Connoly, 1939
Assiminea grayana Fleming, 1828
Assiminea hessei O. Boettger, 1887
Assiminea hiradoensis Habe, 1942
Assiminea infima Berry, 1947 (badwater snail)
Assiminea japonica Martens, 1877
Assiminea littorina (Delle Chiaje, 1828) sensu Philippi, 1841
Assiminea nitida (Pease, 1865): this species belongs to the genus Paludinella as has been demonstrated by Thiele (1927, p. 128), because of a different dentition and an open umbilicus
Assiminea occulta Rolán, 2013
Assiminea ovata (Krauss, 1848)
Assiminea palauensis Thiele, 1927
Assiminea parasitologica Kuroda, 1958
Assiminea pecos Taylor, 1987 (pecos assiminea)
Assiminea possietica Golikov & Kussakin in Golikov & Scarlato, 1967
