''Viviparus georgianus'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

the banded mystery snail, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of large

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...

with

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

s and an operculum, an aquatic

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the family

Viviparidae Viviparidae, sometimes known as the river snails or mystery snails, are a family of large operculate freshwater snails, aquatic gastropod mollusks. This family is classified in the informal group Architaenioglossa according to the taxonomy of ...

, the river snails. This snail is native to the southeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The specific epithet ''georgianus'' is a reference to the southern State of Georgia, where the type locality is situated.

Original description

''Viviparus georgianus'' was originally discovered and described (under the name ''Paludina georgiana'') by Isaac Lea in 1834. Lea's original text (the

type description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

) reads as follows:

Shell description

Ecology

Habitat

This snail is found in lakes and slow-moving rivers with mud bottoms. The species thrives in eutrophic lentic environments such as lakes, ponds and some low-flow streams.Lee, L. E. J., J. Stassen, A. McDonald, C. Culshaw, A. D. Venosa and K. Lee. 2002. Bioremediation Journal 6(4):373-386. It is usually absent from larger, faster flowing rivers; however, it is able to survive conditions of high water velocity in the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

, and in the

it may even be better adapted than the introduced species ''

Bithynia tentaculata ''Bithynia tentaculata'', common names the mud bithynia or common bithynia, or faucet snailKipp R. M. & Benson A. (2008). ''Bithynia tentaculata''. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL. https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/Fac ...

'' to such habitats.Vincent, B. 1979. ''Étude du benthos d'eau douce dans le haut-estuaire du Saint-Laurent (Québec)''. Canadian Journal of Zoology 57(11):1271-2182. Individuals are generally found in a range of habitats, including: regions with silt and mud substrate; communities dominated by

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

s and filamentous

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

(not blue-green algae); shallow waters with sand or gravel substrate; soft and hard water; water with pH between 6.3 and 8.5; freshwater habitats only; river reaches more than meanders.Jokinen, E. 1992. ''The Freshwater Snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of New York State''. The University of the State of New York, The State Education Department, The New York State Museum, Albany, New York 12230. 112 pp.Duch T. M. (1976). "Aspects of the feeding habits of ''Viviparus georgianus''". '' The Nautilus'' 90(1): 7-10.Pace, G. L. and E. J. Szuch. 1985. ''An exceptional stream population of the banded apple snail Viviparus georgianus in Michigan, USA''. Nautilus 99(2-3):48-53.Wade, J. Q. and C. E. Vasey. 1976. ''A study of the gastropods of Conesus Lake, Livingston County, New York''. Proceedings of the Rochester Academy of Science 13(1):17-22. ''Viviparus georgianus'' breeds and lives in shallow waters, often amongst macrophytes, in spring to fall, then moves out to deeper areas in the fall in order to overwinter away from shore.Jokinen, E. H., J. Guerette and R. W. Kortmann. 1982. The natural history of an ovoviviparous snail Viviparus georgianus in a soft water eutrophic lake. Freshwater Invertebrate Biology 1(4):2-17.Wade, J. Q. 1985a. ''Studies of the gastropods of Conesus Lake, Livingston County, New York, USA II. Identification, occurrence and ecology of species''. Proceedings of the Rochester Academy of Science 15(3):206-212. In more open waters, fall migration begins earlier than in smaller lakes and ponds. Most growth generally occurs when waters become warmer in spring and summer, although reduced growth continues in winter.Browne, R. A. 1978. ''Growth, mortality, fecundity, biomass and productivity of four lake populations of the prosobranch snail, Viviparus georgianus''. Ecology 59(4):742-750.

Life cycle

It is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

(it has two distinct sexes), iteroparous (reproducing more than once in a lifetime) and

ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop insi ...

, laying eggs singly in albumen-filled capsules.Rivest, B. R. and R. Vanderpool. 1986. ''Variation in capsule albumen in the freshwater snail Viviparus georgianus''. American Zoologist 26(4):41A. Females generally brood eggs for 9–10 months. Fecundity is generally between 4 and 81 young per female, but on average is closer to 11 young/female.Vail. V. A. 1978. ''Seasonal reproductive patterns in 3 viviparid gastropods''. Malacologia 17(1):7-98. Females can brood more than one batch of young at a time, and the number of young in one brood is positively related to the size of the female.Vail, V. A. 1977. ''Observations on brood production in three viviparid gastropods''. Bulletin of the American Malacological Union, Inc. 43:90. Reproductive females are usually larger than 16 mm.Buckley, D. E. 1986. ''Bioenergetics of age-related vs. size-related reproductive tactics in female Viviparus georgianus''. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 27(4):293-310. Female banded mystery snails live 28 – 48 and males live 18 – 36 months.

Feeding habits

''Viviparus georgianus'' is known to be a facultative or even obligate

filter-feeding Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feedin ...

detritivore Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders, or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). There are many kinds of invertebrates, ...

. Because of this, it can be used as a bioindicator of sediment

contamination Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that spoils, corrupts, infects, makes unfit, or makes inferior a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc. Types of contamination W ...

by oil and fertilizer, because its growth, survival and histology are significantly affected by the ingestion of contaminated sediments. This species grazes on

clusters found on silt and mud substrates, but it may also require the ingestion of some grit, in order to be able to break down algae. The banded mystery snail often lives at high densities, sometimes up to around 864/m².

Parasites

This snail is host to many parasites in its native habitat, including cercaria,

metacercaria Trematodes are parasitic flatworms of the class ''Trematoda'', specifically parasitic flukes with two suckers: one ventral and the other oral. Trematodes are covered by a tegument, that protects the organism from the environment by providing secr ...

, ciliated

protozoa Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris. Histo ...

ns,

annelid The annelids (Annelida , from Latin ', "little ring"), also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecol ...

s, and chironomid larvae.Wade, J. Q. 1985b. ''Studies of the gastropods of Conesus Lake, Livingston County, New York, USA III. Endozoic and parasitic organisms obtained from gastropods''. Proceedings of the Rochester Academy of Science 15(3):213-215.

Distribution

Indigenous distribution

The banded mystery snail is native to North America, generally found from the northeastern United States to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

primarily in south central Florida, Georgia,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and north, mainly in the Mississippi River system, to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and northwestern

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

.Burch, J. B. and J. L. Tottenham. 1980. ''Species list, ranges and illustrations''. Pages 82-215. In North American freshwater snails. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, Indiana and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

are probably some of the states marking the northern limit of this species' native range.Jokinen, E. H. and J. Pondick. 1981. Rare and endangered species: freshwater gastropods of southern New England. The Bulletin of the American Malacological Union, Inc. 50:52-53.Mills, E. L., J. H. Leach, J. T. Carlton and C. L. Secor. 1993. ''Exotic species in the Great Lakes: a history of biotic crises and anthropogenic introductions''. Journal of Great Lakes Research 19(1):1-54. A recent study found that ''Viviparus georgianus'' is in fact not one species, but a species complex in North America. It was determined that '' Viviparus limi'' is native to the Ochlockonee River and southwestern Georgia, while '' Viviparus goodrichi'' lives in the Florida panhandle and southwestern Georgia, and ''Viviparus georgianus'' defined ''sensu stricto'' is found in eastern and southern Florida as well as the Altamaha River in Georgia.Katoh, M. and D. W. Foltz. 1994. ''Genetic subdivision and morphological variation in a freshwater snail species complex formerly referred to as Viviparus georgianus (Lea)''. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 53(1):73-90. Other populations in the Altamaha, Mississippi and St. Lawrence River basins have not been studied yet with respect to their specific genetic make-up, and so they are simply named as being part of the ''Viviparus georgianus'' species complex.

Nonindigenous distribution

This species has invaded the northern part of the United States:

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, as well as

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in Canada.''Viviparus georgianus'' at NatureServe Explorer
accessed 19 October 2008. In the Mid-Atlantic Region it is found in the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

drainage in New York, and possibly

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...

. It is established in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

, Maryland. In the Great Lakes Region: The first record of this introduced species in the Great Lakes basin is from the

drainage, connected to the

and

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...

, in 1867. It was later reported from the

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

watershed by 1906 and

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

by 1914. Other records are from 1931 near Buffalo, Lake Erie and the

. The New York State Museum has records from the 1950s and 1960s from 11 counties Mackie et al. (1980) list this species as recorded from

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

, but they do not give the date of establishment, or any references.Mackie, G. L., D. S. White and T. W. Zdeba. 1980. ''A guide to freshwater mollusks of the Laurentian Great Lakes with special emphasis on the genus Pisidium''. Environmental Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Duluth, Minnesota 55804. 144 pp.

References

This article incorporates public domain text from references.Rebekah M. Kipp & Amy Benson. 2008. ''Viviparus georgianus''.

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL. Revision Date: 2/26/2007

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3142103 Viviparidae Gastropods described in 1834