A Hawaiian land snail named George, who was the last of his kind, died Tuesday.

George was a 14-year-old Achatinella apexfulva, a species once common on Oahu in the Koolau Mountains.

The last 10 known Achatinella apexfulva were brought to the University of Hawaii’s laboratory in 1997 to help preserve and breed the snails, according to a press release from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

“George’s passing is a significant loss to locals as he was featured in numerous articles and hundreds of school children have viewed him over the years,” DLNR wrote in a press release.

Some offspring were produced, but they all eventually died at the lab for unknown reasons, leaving George to be the last.

“During his life George was often in the limelight; he was a spectacle so to speak,” said David Sischo, snail extinction prevention program coordinator for the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife, in George’s obituary. “But more importantly he was an ambassador for the plight of the Hawaiian land snails.”

Achatinella apexfulva were the first of 750 land snails from Hawaii to be identified by Western science. Their distinct mark is a yellow tip on the shell. Due to the shell’s beauty, it was popular for lei making.

George was named after the famous Pinta Island Galapagos tortoise known as “Lonesome George,” as he also was the last of his kind before dying in 2012.

More than 90 percent of snail species throughout Hawaii have become extinct due to habitat extinction, invasive species and over-collection because of their shells, according to the DLNR website.

Sischo said many of the remaining land snails in Hawaii are facing “imminent extinction.”

A small snippet of tissue from George’s foot was collected in 2017 for research purposes and is still being kept in a deep-freeze container at San Diego Zoo’s Frozen Zoo.

“While it is currently not possible to clone a snail, it certainly will be someday,” Sischo said.