HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has confirmed the presence of an invasive species of snail in Lake Granada and Lake Estrella within Hot Springs Village after following up on a report of the species in April.
Mystery snails are native to Asia and are popular in the aquarium trade. There are three species of mystery snail, banded, Chinese and Japanese. The Chinese mystery snail is a prohibited species in Arkansas, meaning it is unlawful to import, transport, or possess in the state. While it is currently legal to possess banded and Japanese mystery snails in aquariums and other captive environments, releasing them or any other captive species into the wild is illegal and can lead to unintended consequences.
“An aquarium release is likely where this infestation began,” Matt Horton, AGFC aquatic nuisance species coordinator, said. “It may seem harmless to release a couple of aquarium pets into the wild, but without their native predators and environmental conditions to keep them in check, some species can quickly overtake new systems where they are introduced.”
In addition to competing with native species for food and other resources, they can carry parasites that can infect native fish and mussel species, as well as people.
“Right now we are still evaluating the situation,” Horton said. “We don’t know exactly what effects these snails will have on some of our native mussel species, some of which are endangered or threatened and live within the Saline River system, which is downstream of these lakes.”
Fisheries staff from the AGFC and Hot Springs Village worked together last week to collect live snails from lakes where they had been reported to investigate whether the snails are carrying any problematic diseases or parasites.
“We collected more than 260 snails from Lake Granada and
