---
title: "Acute Bladder Snail"
description: "Physella acuta — Other animals. Physella acuta, also known as the European physa, tadpole snail, sewage snail, bladder snail, or acute bladder snail, is a species of small, air-breathing freshwater snail of the family Physidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/acute-bladder-snail
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Acute Bladder Snail

> Physella acuta — Other animals. Physella acuta, also known as the European physa, tadpole snail, sewage snail, bladder snail, or acute bladder snail, is a species of small, air-breathing freshwater snail of the family Physidae.

- Scientific name: *Physella acuta*
- Category: `other` (Other animals)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers), `urban` (Towns & gardens)
- iNaturalist observations: 12903
- Wikidata: [Q1694040](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1694040)
- iNaturalist taxon: [448024](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/448024)

## Names

- en: Acute Bladder Snail
- de: Spitze Blasenschnecke
- es: Caracol de vejiga afilada
- fr: Physe voyageuse
- pl: Rozdętka zaostrzona

## Countries with the most observations

US (1077), FR (460), ES (386), AU (358), IT (339), GB (290), DE (259), NZ (226), PT (199), AT (136), MX (104), NL (91)

## Summary

Physella acuta, also known as the European physa, tadpole snail, sewage snail, bladder snail, or acute bladder snail, is a species of small, air-breathing freshwater snail of the family Physidae. It originates from North America and was first described in 1805 by Jacques Philippe Raymond Draparnaud based on a specimen found in France. Like other physids, P. acuta presents a sinistral (left-coiling) shell as well as a unique set of muscles called the physid musculature that allows it to rapidly twist the shell as a defence mechanism.
P. acuta is invasive on all continents except Antarctica and is considered by Dillon…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physella_acuta

## Photo

![Acute Bladder Snail](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/acute-bladder-snail/medium.jpg)

Photo: ngoomie · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215330414

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/acute-bladder-snail?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).