Battle to save tiny gooey snail found only in one UK lake
Wales: A tiny snail found in only one lake in the UK has been dubbed as precious as an Egyptian artefact as conservationists bid to save it.
Several British zoos are setting up so-called ark populations of the glutinous snail, one of Europe’s rarest species, using creatures bred in a back garden in Ceredigion.
Myxas glutinosa gets its name from the gooey mantle that covers its extremely delicate, gold-flecked brown shell. It is no bigger than a fingertip, but has comically large antennae.
The snail was once widespread in the UK, but is now only found in one Welsh lake. Polluted water and habitat loss are largely blamed for its disappearance across England.
In the UK, its last known refuge is Wales’ largest natural lake – Llyn Tegid – in Eryri National Park, also known as Snowdonia.
Conservationist Ian Hughes has made it his “life-defining” mission to protect the threatened mollusc. Since 2014, under licence from Natural Resources Wales, Hughes has been wading into the lake to collect and study the snails. He has designed and installed small concrete shelters for them in the lake and set up his own captive population in a greenhouse at his home in Llanarth.
He has about 2,000 of the snails in homemade tanks in his garden.”There was a point where we’d got more snails in our garden than have ever been seen in the wild,” Hughes said, adding the snails were “something to preserve and cherish like Egyptian artefacts”.
Rearing the snails has become a family affair, with his wife Kerry and sons Jake, George and Ben also involved.
The Hughes family is now working with the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) to relocate some of their snails to wildlife parks across England.
Askham Bryan Wildlife Park in York, Longleat in Wiltshire, Wingham Wildlife Park in Kent, along with Dudley and Chester zoos are taking part in the project, with the Freshwater Habitats Trust searching for suitable water bodies where the snails could eventually be released as part of a £60m UK government-backed scheme to protect rare species.
“We’re doing a lot of research on the snails’ ecology, their husbandry and their genetics. If we can build up a really strong picture then we’re in a good position to reintroduce some of them [to the wild],” said Nicky Needham, head of species management and conservation at BIAZA.
