Gulf Stream Planorbid Snail
Indoplanorbis exustus
This small freshwater snail lives in warm ponds, ditches, rice fields, and slow-moving streams, where it crawls over submerged plants and mud. It grazes algae, biofilm, and decaying organic matter with a rasping radula. Like other planorbid snails, it breathes air with a lung-like cavity but spends nearly all of its active life in water. A notable fact is that Indoplanorbis exustus can act as an intermediate host for several trematode parasites affecting livestock and people.
- Type
- Shell
- Conservation status
- LC