eggs of the apple snail



each time i visited this pond at kranji i would be somewhat put off by the sight of these pink clumps clinging to the stalks of the lotus leaves. some of them stick to the sides of the nearby monsoon drains. i have often wondered what they were. i thought they were some kind of caterpillars that gave the colour to the lotus flowers.

today, i found out what they were when i was browsing for more information on bollywood. i saw pictures of this pink stuff on the wild singapore website. the pink clumps are actually the eggs of the apple snails which are found in tropical and sub-tropical countries.

apple snails deposit their eggs above the waterline in a calcareous clutch. this remarkable strategy of these aquatic snails protect their eggs against predation by fish and other inhabitants of the water.

apple snails inhabit various ecosystems: ponds, swamps and rivers. although they occasionally leave the water, they remain submerged most of the time.

the snails are most active at night. in the dark, they come out to forage for food. they are voracious feeders on natural vegetation. they will eat most aquatic plants. surprisingly, they will not eat water hyacinth.

i used to keep two of these snails with my goldfish. bought them from an aquarium at 50 cents each. they did not survive long because there was no algae or plants to sustain them.