| Chinese mystery snail | |
|---|---|
| Bellamya chinensis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda informal group Architaenioglossa |
| Superfamily: | Viviparoidea |
| Family: | Viviparidae |
| Subfamily: | Bellamyinae |
| Genus: | Bellamya |
| Species: | B. chinensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Bellamya chinensis (Reeve, 1863) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The Chinese mystery snail, Japanese mystery snail, black snail, or trapdoor snail, scientific name Bellamya chinensis,[2] synonym Cipangopaludina chinensis, is a large (up to 65 mm) freshwater snail with gills and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae. The Japanese variety of this species is black and usually a dark green, moss-like algae covers the shell.
The name, "trapdoor snail" refers to a hinged fingernail-like plate or operculum that the snail can use to seal the aperture of the shell, thus providing some resistance to drought and predation.
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Though native to East Asia from the tropics of Indochina to northern China, this species has established itself in North America.
Its popularity as an aquarium animal has led to the accidental introduction (via aquarium dumping) of this snail in many areas where it has become a problematic invasive species.
Bellamya chinensis is an introduced species in the United States. It is found in "any or all of the tributaries on Grand Island and on both sides of the Niagara River in the United States and Canada."[3]
It is regulated in Minnesota where it is illegal to release it into the wild.[4]
This species is primarily an algae eater. These snails are popular in aquariums because they do not eat fish eggs or plants, they do not overpopulate aquariums, and they close up if there is a water problem, giving people an indication that something is wrong a few weeks before the fish die.[5]
Reproduction is initiated sexually. Bellamya chinensis, in common with several other related species of snails, gives birth to live young (vivipary).
Bellamya chinensis serves in its native habitat as a host and a vector to numerous parasites including[6]:
As an intermediate host for: