Editor’s Notes –This is the sixth (and final) installment in
my series on the general topic of freshwater snails in the aquarium hobby. Previous posts have been “What’s Out There?”
[9Oct17], “Loved to Death?” [6Nov17], “Pet Shop Malacology,” [21Dec17], “Snails
by Mail” [24Jan18], and “Freshwater Gastropods and Social Media”
[14Feb18]. It might help you to read (at
least) my previous (February) post on this subject before going on to the essay
below.
This essay was subsequently published as: Dillon, R.T., Jr. (2023c) Psst, Buddy! Wanna Buy an Apple Snail? Pp 57 – 61 in The Freshwater Gastropods of North America Volume 7, Collected in Turn One, and Other Essays. FWGNA Project, Charleston, SC.
First let us clarify the situation as
pertaining to law. In addition to their broader body of regulations regarding the movement of gastropods generally, the
Feds have a set of explicit restrictions regarding the importation and movement
of ampullariids [1]. Quoting the
USDA-APHIS verbatim:
“aquatic snails in the family Ampullaridae (e.g., Pomacea canaliculata, channeled apple snail), with one exception, may not be imported or moved interstate except for research purposes into an APHIS inspected containment facility. One species complex in the family Ampullaridae, Pomacea bridgesii (diffusa) may move interstate without a permit because these snails are not known to be agricultural pests but are primarily algae feeders. An import permit is required for aquatic snails in order to verify species and examine shipments for contaminants that are agricultural pests.” [2]
Note that it is not illegal to own, buy, sell, trade, breed
or propagate invasive apple snails of the maculata/insularum/canaliculata
type, conventionally abbreviated IAS. Naturalized
populations of IAS are already widespread in certain regions of the United
States. I, living in South Carolina for
example, could easily gather Pomacea maculata from any number of local retention ponds
in my area and enjoy them in my home aquarium.
I cannot, however, ship them to my friends in North Carolina, nor carry
them in a cooler up I-95. Nor can my
Tarheel buddies come down here and fetch any.
So in last month’s [14Feb18] essay I shared my impressions
from 30 days of monitoring the conversation on a Facebook group called,
“Snails, Snails, Snails.” I tallied
eight mentions of IAS during that month, including four separate appeals for
purchase, and concluded: “Without a doubt, significant pent-up demand exists
within the community of aquarium hobbyists for large, invasive apple snails.”
 |
| "Last round of Peruvian Apple Snails" |
I didn’t mention it at the time, but I am mentioning it now,
because I think it is especially significant.
Among the eight mentions of IAS I logged during my 30 days of
observation on Snails, Snails, Snails was one offer to sell. A pet supply store in South Dakota named
“Woofs & Waves” posted the photo above, simply captioned, “Last round of
Peruvian Apple Snails for the season.”
This post generated 10 comments, plus about 25 associated replies. Comments included, (1) Cooooool!! and (2) Oh
I wish I could get those, and (3) I want one so bad! He’d do great in my 110! and (4) what does he
charge for those? Where is he located?
The reply to the previous query was, “$9.99, Sioux
Falls.” Then this discussion followed:
“I am sure they wold ship if you asked nicely” and “Pretty sure they can’t cuz
those are illegal in many places” and “Yeah, South Dakota is pretty lax on wildlife
stuff unless you’re poaching.”
I think that independent
aquarium stores may be the primary agents for the introduction and spread of
invasive apple snails around the USA.
The survey I posted in December [21Dec17] satisfied me that the big-box
pet stores don’t sell them, and the desultory survey of major online
retailers I published in January [24Jan18], including Amazon and Ebay, didn’t
turn up any. Are Mom-and-Pop
independents, which in the patois of social media are called “LPS” (local pet
stores), the well from which North American populations of invasive
apple snails spring?
Following this hunch, last week I made a field trip across
town to the only independent aquarium store in the Charleston Area, a really
handsome shop with great stock and a knowledgeable staff called, “Tideline
Aquatics.” And in addition to the usual
assortment of mystery snails and nerites and rabbit snails [4], I found offered for sale a small batch
of “jumbo gold mystery snails,” maybe six or eight head in the lot, crammed
timidly into the corner of an aquarium on the bottom rack, behind the filter. These are clearly not our benign little
friend Pomacea diffusa/bridgesii. These
are invasive apple snails. Click for larger:
 |
| NOT Pomacea diffusa |
And more than just any random IAS, my local pet store is apparently
stocking golden-form apple snails, of a kind widely introduced throughout Asia
and the Pacific Islands. We don’t host
any golden morphs at all in the populations of Pomacea maculata naturalized here
in South Carolina. I’ll bet dollars-to-donuts
that the stock of “Jumbo gold mystery snails” for sale a few miles from my
house originated from Asia, probably from dealers not unlike the ones surveyed
by Ting Hui Ng and her colleagues in 2016 [5].
See figure #14 in the Ng et al. plate I shared with you all back in
October [9Oct17].
And here we also reprise a theme I developed in December
[21Dec17] – the mysterious origins of aquarium stocks worldwide which, like any
other commodity I suppose, it behooves suppliers to protect. And the plasticity of the names attached to
such stocks. Common use and legal
precedent has developed such that “apple snails” are bad and “mystery snails”
are good. So the “jumbo mystery snail”
has been born, to mysteriously arrive at an independent aquarium-stock retailer
near you.
And so we have now come full circle, which means that it is time
to sum up. I am charmed, genuinely
charmed, by the widespread interest and heartfelt love often demonstrated by
aquarium hobbyists toward our mutual friends, the freshwater gastropods. And I think such interests should be
encouraged, if for no other reason than they might blossom. I cannot see how harvest of wildstock
freshwater gastropod populations for the aquarium trade could endanger such
populations, at any imaginable harvest rates.
I can see, however, a problem with the spread of invasive species.
Here a tiny and obscure freedom, escaping the notice of our
founding fathers, is associated both with a tiny societal benefit, and a tiny
hazard. I can’t think of any solution to
the tiny hazard, beyond what we’re already doing. Let’s just leave that freedom alone, shall
we?
Notes
[1] And I should immediately stipulate that some states have
their own regulations more restrictive than the Feds. Our good buddy Joshua Vlach from the Oregon
Department of Agriculture informs me that Oregon has a five-page list of invertebrates
that are ALLOWED to cross its state lines, and all others are prohibited [3]. The bottom line is the same for IAS,
however. Go home!
[2] US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service. Plant Health /
Import into the US / Permits / Regulated Organisms and Soil Permits / Snails
Slugs. [html]
[3] This reminds me of a scene from one of the Peanuts
videos, where Violet and Lucy tell Charlie Brown, “There were two lists,
Charlie Brown. There was a list to
invite, and a list NOT to invite. And
you were on the WRONG LIST!”
[4] The shells of the “Rabbit Snails” were completely
encrusted with calcification. Absolutely
unidentifiable. The ugliest gastropods I
have ever seen in captivity.
[5] Ng Ting Hui, Tan SK, Wong WH, Meier R, Chan S-Y, Tan HH,
Yeo DCJ (2016) Molluscs for Sale: Assessment of Freshwater Gastropods and
Bivalves in the Ornamental Pet Trade. PLoS ONE 11(8): e0161130. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161130
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