Pope Duval Park [Fish Management Area], Far Western Duval County

      As part of an on-going project to formally document the presence of Applesnails in northeast Florida, both the native Pomacea paludosa (Say, 1829) [Florida Applesnail] and the two exotic species also present (P. canaliculata and P. maculata), on October 11, 2007 a visit was made to Duval County's Pope Duval Park on West Beaver Street in the far western portion of the county. Previous visits to this location had confirmed the presence of P. maculata in one of the park's two lakes (the west lake) as well as a creek which flows north through the park (see: Pomacea maculata At Pope Duval Park). However, Pope Duval's east lake had not previously been thoroughly surveyed for applesnails prior to this visit.

    Upon arrival at the east lake, a modest number of applesnail egg clutches were readily apparent on the lake's fishing pier. However, instead of being the expected egg clutches of P. maculata, the eggs were instead those of P. paludosa - representing the 30th location in the county where the species has been found and the westernmost location as well. No additional applesnail egg clutches were seen on the lake shoreline probably indicating that the P. paludosa population in the lake is not large. As with many locations in the county where P. paludosa have been found, how the snails came to be in a man-made lake with no apparent inflow/outflow is a mystery.

    The lake was revisited on 4/25/2010 and again a modest number of Pomacea paludosa egg clutches were found on structure along the lake shoreline. In addition, a pair of empty P. paludosa shells were also found nearby.

Partial view of the lake and the fishing pier where the egg clutches were found

Empty shells found along the lake shoreline on 4/25/2011