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The gastropod shell is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, a kind of mollusc. The shell is an exoskeleton, which protects from predators, mechanical damage, and dehydration, but also serves for muscle attachment and calcium storage. Some gastropods appear shell-less slugs but may have a remnant within the mantle, or the shell is reduced such that the body cannot be retracted within semi-slug. The study of mollusc shells is known as conchology. The biological study of gastropods, and other molluscs in general, is malacology.