Monday, August 23, 2010

Golden Kuhol - No. 1 pest of growing rice

Golden Kuhol (Pomacea caniculata), a maverick exotic food snail. Golden Kuhol, unlike the native kuhol, is dioecious. The female is distinguished by having a convex operculum (right), while the male has its operculum (takip) curved inward. The egg mass is prominently pink and attached to any object above the water level. The snail feeds on rice seedlings and growing rice crop. It is found in some two million hectares of ricefields, two-thirds of the country's total rice area.

No comments: