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Re: BOUNCE killietalk at aka_org: Non-member submission from ["Patty" <dpdm4 at home_com>]
Hi Patty,
Most snails are hermaphroditic. This means each snail has a
complete working set of both male and female sexual organs. They are not
able to fertilize their own eggs, always needing another to fertilize their
eggs. It is entirely possible that your snail had already mated and
exchanged genetic material with another snail. It is also possible that
when the store clerk was chasing around the fish you purchased that a few
eggs were dislodged and carried home in the plastic bag as stowaways. They
are generally harmless, even beneficial as waste processors and algae
control, so I would not be alarmed. If you get too many, a small setup like
yours is easily patrolled and excess snails can be plucked and flushed
readily.
Jay Moylan
______________________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: "by way of Barry Cooper <bjc3 at cornell_edu>" <owner-killietalk at aka_org>
To: <killietalk at aka_org>
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2000 7:44 PM
Subject: BOUNCE killietalk at aka_org: Non-member submission from ["Patty"
<dpdm4 at home_com>]
> Hi my name is Patty. My son has a fish tank and we recently purchased a =
> snail to eat the algea. Well I woke up on morning to find 5 baby snails =
> in the tank. My son's tank is only a 1 gallon tank, so not that big but =
> big enough for a couple of fish and a snail. My question to you is are =
> snails "asexual or was the snail already pregant? I don't remeber there =
> being any eggs present, but all I know is that the baby snails were no =
> bigger than my baby fingernail. Please give me some information on them. =
> Thank-you for your time.
>
> Patty Birtig
>
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