IT is a true modern love story that has moved at anything but a snail’s pace.

    Rescued from a compost heap in London, Jeremy the “left handed” snail was plucked from obscurity and recognized as one of a kind.

    After discovering his shell swirled the “wrong” way compared to other snails, scientists put out a call last month to find the mollusc a mate to preserve his genetic legacy.

    Now two potential snail mates, and fellow lefties, have been found — one in Ipswich and a second potential suitor in Majorca.

    Scientists at the University of Nottingham believe the snail’s unique swirls are related to a rare human health condition, in which patients have their heart on the wrong side of their chest, on the right.

    The same genes are believed to cause this condition, called dextrocardia, in people and to twist snails’ shells round the wrong way.

    The hope is to mate two of these “left-handed” snails in order to zero in on the genes responsible for their altered body plan in snails, as well as the human condition thought to affect one in 10,000 people.

    Jeremy will now be paired with Lefty from Ipswich, after owner Jade Sanchez Melton responded to the appeal.

    Sanchez Melton said, “Scientifically speaking, this is something which I believe has never been done and I am going to be fascinated to see whether breeding these two snails will result in more lefties or whether their offspring will feature the more common clockwise coiling shells.”

    The two snails will now meet in Ipswich, where they will be watched for signs of mating over two weeks.

    But if things don’t work out in the U.K., Jeremy could have a second stab at love in the form of an overseas interest.

    A snail farmer in Majorca also contacted the university with news of another “lefty.”

    Dr. Angus Davison, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Nottingham and Jeremy’s minder, said, “Following the call that we put out to find another rare lefty snail as a partner for Jeremy, I was amazed at the response from the general public, but hardly dared hope that it would actually work.”

    He added, “In the end, we found not one but two other rare lefty snails, one in Suffolk and another — Tomeu — in Spain.

    “Both of the finders must have very keen eyes in spotting what is a very rare condition.”

    Snails are hermaphrodites so can reproduce on their own without the need for another mate.

    But the molluscs only do this in the absence of a suitable mate, preferring to hook up with another snail.

    Researchers say the data from offspring of two “lefty” snails would also be far more valuable for genetic studies.(SD-Agencies)