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European valve snail (Valvata piscinalis)

European valve snail Common Names: European stream valvata

Description: Originally introduced to Lake Ontario in 1987 likely in packing material made of straw and marsh grasses from Europe. In the following 40 years, its range expanded to Lake Erie and to the St. Lawrence River, Hudson River, Champlain Lake and Cayuga Lake.

Identification: Can reach 7 mm in length. Shells often exhibit 4-5 whorls and are white to beige with more orange to red pigmentation apically. Operculum shows spiral markings of around 10 turns, originating centrally. The snails are yellow colored, spotted gray and white, with blue eyes and darker pigmentation on the snout and mantle.

Habitat: Native to Europe, the Caucasus, western Siberia and central Asia. Typically found in freshwater streams, rivers and lakes, preferring running water and tolerating water with low calcium levels.

Reproduction: Can spawn 2-3 times in a year, laying up to 150 eggs at a time which are deposited on vegetation. Hatching normally occurs in 15-30 days. Individuals breed around the age of 1 and usually die at 13-21 months.

Impact and Damage: Has the potential to compete with native gastropods for food and space. Unlike native gastropods, it is capable of filter feeding on suspended food items in eutrophic conditions, which could conceivably allow it to become dominant.

Monitoring and rapid response: Manipulation of predator fishes and turtles that eat snails may be useful in controling populations. Copper compounds that are sold as snailicides are usually not selective in the snails they kill and is generally not recommended. There are no known physical control methods.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

European valve snail

Scientific Name:

Valvata piscinalis

Family:

Valvatidae
(Freshwater snail)

Habit:

Mollusks