Current Science 2001, 80:919-921.
I bet this has been posted about here before, because I found it in the biliography of this page:
The identity, distribution, and impacts of non-native apple snails in the continental United States
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/7/97
But I found it interesting and did not see any recent mention of it.
The study tests the food preferences of Pomacea bridgesii, which is apparently synonymous with Pomacea diffusa. This snail is the only snail exempted from interstate trade in the States to the best of my knowledge. I found this study interesting because it defied my expectations concerning the diet of these beautiful and amazing creatures.
I found the study at the following address:
http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/apr252001/919.pdf
These snails
(P. bridgesi) have been introduced in
India8 in recent years in connection with
aquarium trade and there exists every
possibility of their escape from the
aquaria to the open-air water bodies.
Hence an attempt was made to gain
knowledge on their foods in India, experimentally,
under laboratory conditions
with a view to apprehend possible
impact of P. bridgesi on the natural
community concerned.
The study used 30 specimens, 10 young,10 sexually mature and 10 aged specimens and fed them all initially upon lettuce and then fed them different things in different combinations.
P. bridgesi, irrespective of their
groups, exhibited similar type of food
selection and feeding (Table 1). In all
cases, animal food was preferred to
plant food.
In all cases, animal food was preferred to plant food
I did not expect this at all.
They could catch few animals, eating live animals only in cases where the animals were slow small worms.
They clearly liked dead things, as in they ate dead fish before they would eat molluscs or worms or plants.
They ate chicken, preferring it to goat, though they ate that too...
of the (chopped up pieces) of chicken and goat, only bones were left.
In all
cases, animal food was preferred to
plant food.
The semidecomposed
prawn (decapods) and molluscan
flesh, irrespective of species,
was preferred to oligochaete worms...
The flesh of prawns and molluscs was
equally acceptable...
The fishes, irrespective
of species, were consumed first in
presence of prawn and molluscan flesh.
Gallus gallus(chicken) was preferred to Capra
hircus (goat).
They ate any meat they could, freshly dead or partially decomposed (yuk!) and even preferred it to all plants tested.
I guess that they tended to go for the richest foods first, that makes sense from a nutrition point of view.
I wonder in terms of keeping them, how the diet affects color, behavior and lifespan.
