Pomacea Canaliculata, The “100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Species”

October 24, 2007

Think you know what this is? I bet some of you don’t.

Well, this is the egg cluster of a species of snail known scientifically as Pomacea canaliculata.

The species of snail which laid these eggs is no ordinary snail. Pomacea canaliculata has been listed as among the “100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species” by the World Conservation Union.

Pomacea canaliculata, known in Malaysia as Siput Gondang Emas or literally, Golden Snail, is a freshwater snail with a voracious appetite for water plants including lotus, water chestnut, taro, and rice.

According to the Global Invasive Species Database, the snail was introduced widely from its native South America by the aquarium trade and as a source of human food.

It is now a major crop pest in Southeast Asia and among the most affected are rice farmers, including my parents who had to set aside hundreds of ringgit each rice planting season to buy special pesticides to fight this type of snail.

There would be hundreds of thousands of them spawning virtually overnight at the start of rice planting season. If not controlled properly, they are capable of destroying a whole six hectare of young rice crop in less than 48 hours.

These two pictures of a Golden Snail egg cluster and the dead snails are taken from my parents rice field in Sabah, the Malaysian state on Borneo island.

Posted in Snail Macro