Why Jeremy the 'Lefty' snail is looking for love

It's not often that mollusc experts get the chance to play matchmaker, but scientists are on the lookout for a mate for Jeremy, a common garden snail with a very rare defect – he's a "lefty".

But while human lefties might complain about smudged pens or difficulty using a tin opener, Jeremy's problem is a little more pressing: his genitals are on the wrong side for mating.

As well as having an anticlockwise shell, Jeremy's reproductive organs are on the left side of his body rather than the usual right side – and it's cramping his love life.

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"When they try to mate, essentially, their bits are in the wrong position," Dr Angus Davison of the University of Nottingham's Life Sciences department told the Canadian broadcaster CBC, adding: "But they probably don't know that."

Jeremy, whom Davison revealed is named after fellow "lefty" Jeremy Corbyn, was spotted by chance by a retired scientist from the Natural History Museum near a compost heap in Raynes Park, south-west London.

The eagle-eyed scientist sent Jeremy to Davison, whose team has been researching the gene that controls body asymmetry in snails, which is the same as that found in humans.

"We are very keen to study the snail's genetics to find out whether this is a result of a developmental glitch or whether this is a genuine inherited genetic trait," he told Notts TV.

Although snails are technically hermaphrodites and are capable of reproducing without a partner, Davison says they prefer to out-breed whenever possible, and that the offspring of two lefty snails would be "far richer" to study.

Finding a partner for Jeremy has proven tricky, as only one in 100,000 snails are believed to have the abnormality, so scientists are opening up the search to the public.

However, Davison did have one caveat for any amateur enthusiasts hoping to give Jeremy a helping hand. "Send a photo to me first," he said. "One of the things we're already seeing is that people get really confused about left and right and how to identify them."