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Lake San Jose, Southeastern Duval County, Florida |
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During mid-February,
Dr. Patrick Baker of the
University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
discovered both living and
dead Pomacea paludosa in Lake San Jose in southeastern Duval
County while conducting a site survey.
The
snails, as well as egg clutches, were found in the southeast end of the
lake that is located immediately west the intersection of Old Kings Road
South and Powers Avenue. This picturesque lake is totally encircled by
residential development and is fed by an artesian well. Dr. Baker also
found a single dead Pomacea shell in a outflow ditch on the
northwest end of the lake. This reporter visited Lake San Jose and the outflow ditch on February 24th, 2006. Access to the lake is not possible without securing permission from local residential property owners and thus was not attempted. A visit to the lake outflow via a culvert that empties into a ditch on the northwest side of Hernando Road revealed the presence of both Pomacea paludosa egg clutches and a single partial shell. A return visit the next day yielded a live Pomacea in the vicinity of the culvert and numerous additional shells. The outflow ditch was then followed downstream towards the St. Johns River for a distance of about 925 meters and sporadic evidence of a breeding Pomacea population was found throughout the entire length - including a pair of live adult specimens at a concrete culvert near the intersection of Coligny and San Fernando Roads. While no shells were found downstream from the aforementioned culvert, a large number of Pomacea egg clutches were found further downstream on a culvert running under Old St. Augustine Road. This suggests that the species is probably present throughout the remainder of the ditch as it flows toward the St. Johns River. A follow-up visit was made to the area on May 20th, 2006 and access to the lake was secured. Live Pomacea and their egg clutches were readily apparent along the shoreline. Because of the prevailing extremely dry weather conditions, no water was draining from the lake via the outflow on Hernando Road. Other than a shallow puddle immediately adjacent to the culvert illustrated below, the ditch was totally dry. |
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Lake San Jose looking northwest |
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Lake San Jose looking southeast |
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Lake outflow culvert on Hernando Road where the egg clutches/Pomacea shells were found (2/25/2006) |
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Two Of The Larger Pomacea Shells Found In The Outflow Ditch (2/25/2006) |
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