The vote has been organized for two years by a Centre for the Study of Genomic Biodiversity (LOEWE), based in Frankfurt, Germany.
The specialists carried out a first selection among the more than 85,000 species of molluscs known in the world (terrestrial and marine snails, slugs, oysters, etc.).
Since March 1st, fans can vote online to elect the most beautiful.
The winning mollusk will have its genome mapped, in order to better understand its evolution and its potential benefits to humanity.
Last year, the winner was a spectacular Cuban painted snail (Polymita picta).
This year's finalists are: the Chilean abalone known as "loco" (Concholepas concholepas), the leopard slug (Limax maximus), a shellless sea snail known as the micromelo undatus, a giant deep oyster (Neopycnodonte zibrowii) and a horned sea slug (Hermissenda crassicornis).
All of them have a head, a bowel tube and a muscular "foot" to move around.
Molluscs have existed for more than 500 million years and represent, after insects, the most populated animal subdivision on the planet.
"Of all the invertebrates, molluscs are the most appreciated by humans, but this phylum is surprisingly neglected in genetic research," Carola Greve, director of the LOEWE laboratory, told AFP.
© 2023 AFP