The
mating of gastropods is a vast and varied topic, because the
taxonomic class
Gastropoda is very large and diverse, a group comprising
sea snails and
sea slugs,
freshwater snails and
land snails and
slugs. Gastropods are second only to the class
Insecta in terms of total number of species. Some gastropods have separate sexes, others are
hermaphroditic. Some hermaphroditic groups have simultaneous hermaphroditism, whereas some sequential hermaphroditism. In addition, numerous very different mating strategies are used within different taxa.