Snails are a kind of important aquatic products and dehydration is the main technique in production of
snail meal. Apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) dehydration meets both the demand for a fishmeal substitute in
aquaculture and invasive species control in agriculture. In this study, we investigated the percentage of the nutritive
material, examined the drying characteristics at 60, 80, 100 and 120°C, respectively, established a drying kinetics
model and explored the effect of body morphology on drying efficiency. The results showed that the wet weight
percentage of the soft parts was 46.61±6.18%. The drying efficiency was significantly improved with an increase of
drying temperature from 60 to 120°C. The drying time increased rapidly when the final moisture content approached
its equilibrium value. The Hii et al. model was selected as the best model to describe the drying curves (R2
>0.99). It
provided a relatively accurate prediction between the requirements of moisture content and drying time. There were
statistically significant differences (p