Pomacea canaliculata
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Author(s): Shan Lv, National Institute of Parasitic Diseases
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1828) - (golden apple snail)
This is a large water (or amphibious) snail, native to South America, which has been introduced as a food into Asia in the 1980s and has become a serious pest of paddy rice. The snail is highly polyphagous and feeds on any type of plant material, including crops like rice and taro. It is also a vector of the rat lungworm Angiostrongylus cantonensis that causes human eosinophilic meningitis. The snail is used as food in Asia and sometimes eaten uncooked.
The normal life span is about 4 years. The eggs are laid in clutches of 200-600 outside the water and are brightly coloured, apparently as a warning for potential predators. The shell is almost spherical and usually grows up to 4-6 cm in diameter (specimens up to 15 cm have been also recorded). This species has been misidentified in some literature, e.g. as Pomacea lineata.
- Other images of Pomacea canaliculata (IPM Images, PaDIL and Wikimedia Commons - click to enlarge)
details of shell
eggs
