City Of Lakeland issued the following announcement on Oct. 01.
It’s Lakefront Friday!
Have you seen these pink blobs when you’ve walked around one of our lakes? They are egg masses of an invasive apple snail. Apple snails lay their egg masses above water, and when the eggs hatch , the tiny snails fall into the water. There are several species of apple snails in Florida, and only one is native. Native apple snails lay white egg masses, while the invasive non-native snails egg masses are pink. The primary diet of the non-native apple snails is aquatic vegetation, while our native snails mainly prefer algal masses known as periphyton.
If you’re interested in removing the egg masses, they can be scraped off and dropped in the water. Once the eggs are wet, they will not hatch.
However, it is very important that only PINK egg masses are removed—any white egg masses are native snails and should never be disturbed. Also, the snails have become a food source for birds, such as limpkins and snail kites, as well as other animals such as raccoons, fish and alligators.
Original source can be found here.
Source: City Of Lakeland
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