The Invasive New Zealand Mud Snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) in Lake Erie

Status of non-indigenous benthic invertebrates in the Duluth–Superior Harbor and the role of sampling methods in their detection

“…G. tigrinus had the lowest percent occurrence of any amphipod in our study despite being present at least 20 years, but is rapidly colonizing new waterbodies in Europe with demonstrable impacts on native amphipods (Grigorovich et al, 2005a;Bailey et al, 2006). P. antipodarum, while presently less common than several native gastropods (Appendix A), is reported to cause biofouling and negatively impact other species in Lake Erie (Levri et al, 2007). C. fluminea has become a widespread and abundant biofouler elsewhere in North America (Foster et al, 2008), and is probably restricted in our system by its lack of cold tolerance.…”

The invader mudsnailPotamopyrgus antipodarumin the Tiber River basin (Central Italy)

“…The New Zealand mud snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum is expanding in Europe (Lewin & Smoliń ski 2006), Australia (Schreiber 2003), Japan (Shimada & Urabe 2003) and North America (Levri et al 2007). …”

“…It can also pass undigested through fish guts (Haynes et al 1985), and passive transport by fish and water fowl (Crozet et al 1980) may play an important role in the dispersal of the snail over long distance. The active motion of P. antipodarum may also contribute significantly to the diffusion of this species within watercourses, though transport by human carriers appears to be the most significant modality of dispersal of this invader in some areas (Richards et al 2004;Levri et al 2007). Laboratory and field experiments enabled Haynes et al (1985) to prove that the snail tends to orientate itself and move upstream, a behaviour which certainly facilitates the persistence and diffusion of this species towards inland waters.…”

Exotic species in Lake Champlain

“…Fish-hook flea (Cercopagis pengoi) was discovered in Lake Ontario in 1998 (MacIsaac et al, 1999) and has since spread to Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and the Finger Lakes of New York. The New Zealand mud snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) was found in Lake Ontario in 1991, and has since spread to Lake Erie (Levri et al, 2007;Zaranko et al, 1997). D. lumholtzi, Echinogammarus ischnus, calanoid copepods Eurytemora affinis and Skistodiaptomus pallidus, and a bacterium (Thioplica ingrica) are in Lake Ontario (Faber and Jermolajev, 1966;Witt et al, 1997;Benson, 1999;Muzinic, 2000;Makarewicz et al, 2001;Dermott and Legner, 2002).…”