The Physio-ecological Characteristics of Golden Apple Snails (Pomacea canaliculata) and the Cause of Their Massive Death used for Weed Control in Wet Rice Paddies

The golden apple snail (GAS, Pomacea canaliculata) is an invasive freshwater snail. The GAS was introduced in Korea without prior studies on the possibility of crop damage or its impact on the natural ecosystem. The freshwater apple snails can be found typically in ponds, rice paddies, irrigation canals, roadside ditches or slower portions of streams. In this study, we were carried out to investigate the assessment of physiological and ecological characteristics, environmental characteristics inhabited area in winter season and cause of massive death at one time of golden apple snails used for weed control in wet rice paddies. The GAS was introduced from Japan to Korea for commercial production as a dietary protein supplement. The golden apple snail was also used a recently for weed control in wet rice cultivation. The species of freshwater Pomacea snails is belonging to the genus Pomacea, family ampulariidae, order mesogastropoda, subclass pulmonata, class gastropoda, phylum mollusca. The GAS spread into irrigation ditches and natural waterways. It is now distributed in ponds and canals near rice fields of southern parts of the country and has overwintered. It increases its cold hardiness before winter. However, the physiological mechanism of cold hardiness in molluscs is poorly understood, especially in freshwater molluscs. Our results on physioecological characteristics of the Pomacea apple snail showed that the ratio of males to females was 1: 1.99~2.33. The daily growth was 87.7 mg in weight, 0.31 mm in height and 0.33 mm in width of the their shell. On the other hand, the golden apple snails were very high to resistance on drying condition and survived rate about 80% up to 3 months. The inhabitation of GAS was no statistical significant impacts on the water quality. An important property of aqueous solutions is agricultural water quality because it affects chemical and biochemical properties such as chemical reactions, equilibrium conditions, and biological toxicity. The death rate of weed control apple snails by Ostracoda (Stenocypris hislopi) was only 2.86% and 5.71% depending on the density. Therefore, GAS was not a direct death caused by Ostracoda (Stenocypris hislopi).