I did an article about three years ago on mollusk invaders in the US. As of
2004 Melanoides tuberculata (first released sometime after 1937 in
California) was found in ten states, including the southwest states of
Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and California as well as
Florida and North Carolina in the east. At the time its harmful effects on
local fish had not been documented. While it serves as a vector for a
number of human infesting parasites, the mechanism of infection requires the
snail to be eaten by a crustacean which in turn is eaten (raw) by a human.
Like the Asian clam, Corbicula fluminea, found in many of these same waters,
it looks like this illegal alien is here to stay.
Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA
-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
David Campbell
Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 8:32 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Help With Neritidae
> It worries me seen a supplier selling Melanoides tuberculata!
> This snail has been introduced here in Brazil and is getting out of
control.
Also to many islands in the Pacific and Caribbean, Latin America, and
the southern U.S.; probably elsewhere, too. It's been promoted as
competing with schistosomiasis hosts, but it competes with other
species, too, and hosts its own suite of parasites, including one
that's harming Mexican and Texan fish populations.
--
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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