The salinity tolerance of the invasive golden apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata)

ABSTRACT

We exposed snails of an invasive species of golden apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) to five artificial sea water treatments at salinity levels of 0, 5, 10, 15 or 20 parts per thousand (ppt) to assess their salinity tolerance. We observed the behaviour, heart rate, total haemocyte counts, haemolymph ionic concentration and Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase activity in the mantle at 0, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h post salinity exposures. The heart rate declined with increasing salinity, while Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase activity in the mantle presented a reverse trend, possibly to maintain normal osmolality. A trend of rising total haemocyte count was observed from 0 ppt and 5 ppt to 10 ppt salinities, while a sudden increase in the count was observed at 15 ppt and 20 ppt salinity groups. Furthermore, haemolymph Cl⁻, Na⁺ and K⁺ concentrations increased directly with elevated salinity. An additional trial was performed to assess the growth performance of the snails under exposure to low salinities. During a 1 month trial, snails grew better at 5 ppt salinity treatment. Taken together, our results demonstrate that P. canaliculata can tolerate salt stress to some extent. The finding also obviously implies a possible invasive risk to estuaries.

KEYWORDS:

• Acute toxicity
• adaptation
• brackish water
• control of pest species

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Tai-ming Yan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4159-6029

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant no. U1131006], and ‘Double Support Project’ fund of Sichuan Agricultural University, SICAU [NO. 03572406]. We appreciated the help from Prof. Dongfang Deng, School of Freshwater Sciences University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UWM for the statistical analysis and manuscript revision.