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Small Man-made Pond In Oceanway, Northern Duval County, Florida |
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In 2006 this pond was filled for housing construction and the Pomacea population was destroyed. |
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On May 1st,
2006 this reporter received an E-mail from Michelle Barsh, who lives in
the Oceanway section of northern Duval County immediately off US-17
(Main Street), informing me that a spring-fed man-made pond in her
neighborhood had a thriving population of Pomacea. Michelle had
previously contacted me about the pond in July of 2005 but no visit to
the location was made at that time to investigate. Since the pond water
level was now low, she suggested a visit at this time would be
productive. The next afternoon I visited the pond in question and it was immediately obvious that a large breeding population of Pomacea paludosa was present. Many dead shells as well as live adults and juveniles were easily found along the pond periphery. Additionally, freshly deposited Pomacea egg clutches were observed on lakeside structure. Michelle reported that the species had been present in the pond since at least the fall of 1992 and that originally a small creek ran through the property on which the pond was situated. This Pomacea find represents the northernmost location that the species has been found in Duval County.
Other aquatic
species present in the pond included
Melanoides
tuberculata (Müller,
1774) Red-rim Melania,
Utterbackia imbecillis
(Say, 1829) Paper Pondshell,
Planorbella duryi
(Wetherby,
1879) Seminole Rams-horn (some unusually large specimens), and
Physella heterostropha
(Say, 1817) Pewter Physa.
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Mrs. Barsh and daughter with dead mollusks readily visible |
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Sample of live specimens from the pond |
Some of the Pomacea egg clutches |
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