Marine Living

Periwinkles are sea snails classified in the Phylum Mollusca and Class Gastropoda.

Periwinkles have a dark brown to brownish-gray shell that is up to about 1 inch long. While this species is a common sighting along the eastern coast of the U.S. and Canada, it is an invasive species that originally hailed from Europe and is thought to have been introduced by ballast water in the 1800's.

Periwinkles feed on algae, which they scrape off of rocks using their radula. They are edible snails, and are often called the 'edible periwinkle'. While they are not a common meal in the U.S., they are eaten in Europe, Africa and Asia.

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