METAIRIE, La. — They're back!
Stuck to just about every culvert or pipe, block after block, along the West Esplanade canal, and rock after rock in outfall canals in Metairie, the apple snails that live under water have laid thousands of egg masses.
“I do see them now as I drive up and down Esplanade in particular,” said Metairie neighbor Taylor Terrebonne.
“They've gotten a lot worse since we've been here in the past year,” said Metairie neighbor Dr. Erica Boyle.
“It's amazing to see that many egg masses in an artificial man-made canal like that. The first apple snails that I was aware of in Louisiana, were in a drainage basin in Gretna in 2006,” said Michael Massimi, the Invasive Species and Marine Programs Coordinator for the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program.
He says the South American apple snail was most likely bought for home aquariums, then dumped, free to reproduce. And boy have they. Each egg mass can hatch as many as 1,000 tiny apple snails, that grow to be as big as an apple. And they cause damage to our land, by eating aquatic plants, and affecting the ecosystem.
“Then it gets muddy and turbid, and sunlight doesn't penetrate. There's a lot of algal growth. So, instead of a healthy water body that's good for fisheries, all that is gone. The fish don't like it. The ducks don't like it,” Massimi explained.
So far there's no specific way to control them that won't also harm the water, and wildlife like crawfish, but there may be some help from a bird.
“There's a new species of predator of apple snails called the Limpkin. It's a brownish, wading bird that feeds on apple snails by sight. So, that might actually make some bit of impact on this population,” he added.
While left over shells can make a great costume, like Michael’s hat, he warns the eggs have a neurotoxin in them. So, don't touch. And they carry the rat lung worm parasite. They are dangerous if eaten raw. That's why a Metairie neighbor, who is also a doctor, is concerned.
“And young kids that come out here, four or five of them at a time, don't understand the ramifications of playing with them, and the toxins that they carry,” said Dr. Boyle.
The white cluster of eggs you see has already hatched. The pink ones will hatch within two weeks.
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