Charismatic Fauna

The Florida apple snail is food to a number of the state’s prominent, or charismatic, wildlife species.  These charismatic species generally consume the larger snail size classes. 

• Apple snails are the nearly exclusive food of the endangered snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus) (Sykes et al. 1995) (see pictures below).  Kites target snails 30 mm in size and larger, with 20 mm the approximate minimum size (Sykes 1987).  For more information on the kite, see The Snail Kite section.

   Photo by Rob Bennetts.      

• In central and south Florida, the apple snail accounts for more than 75% of the diet of the limpkin (Aramus guarauna) (Cottam 1936; Snyder and Snyder 1969) (see picture below).  

  

• The apple snail is a food source for white ibis (Eudocimus albus) (Kushlan 1974) (see top left picture below); boat-tailed grackles (Cassidix mexicanus) (Snyder and Snyder 1969); alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) (Fogarty and Albury 1967; Delaney and Abercombie 1986) (see top right picture below); snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) (Snyder and Snyder (1971); and soft-shelled turtles (Trionyx ferox) (Dalrymple 1977) (see bottom left picture below).

           

  

   

Less-Charismatic Fauna

We use the phrase “less-charismatic” species to refer to small animals (e.g., crayfish, small turtles, some fish) that generally do not have widespread popular appeal.  Less-charismatic predators generally target the smaller snail size classes. 

• Darby et al. (2009) report that predation on hatchling and juvenile snails by less-charismatic predators may be very significant in regulating snail populations.  Field studies indicated that the highest proportion of snails eaten by aquatic predators were size classes < 20 mm.  The authors concluded that aquatic predators, collectively, may eat as many if not more snails than their avian counterparts, and that these aquatic predators eat snails of all sizes, from hatchlings up to adults.



• Darby et al. (2009) observed that the following species consumed apple snails approximately 4-10 mm in diameter:  Mayan cichlids (Cichlosoma urophthalmus), redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus), Seminole killifish (Fundulus seminolis), and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus).  Redear sunfish, also known as “shell crackers,” have long been known to eat apple snails (e.g., Chable 1947).  A greater siren (Siren lacertina) also consumed a snail.  Several other species tested (largemouth bass [Micropterus salmoides], blue spotted sunfish [Enneacanthus gloriosus], and golden top minnow [Fundulus chrysotus], did not eat snails in the lab, but ate other food offered.  Studies reported in Darby et al. 2009 are the subject of an upcoming peer-reviewed manuscript.

                                

Literature Cited

• Chable, A.C.  1947.  A study of the food habits and ecological relationships of the sunfishes of Northern Florida.  M.S. Thesis, University of Florida, Gainesville.  77pp.

• Cottam, C.  1936.  Food of the limpkin.  Wilson Bulletin 48:11-13.

• Dalrymple, G.S.  1977.  Intraspecific variation in the cranial feeding mechanism of turtles of the genus Trionyx (Reptilia, Testudines, Trionychidae).  Journal of Herpetology 11:255-285.

• Darby, P.C., N.H. Glass, D.J. Mellow, S.E. Kell, R.E. Eckert, and P.L. Valentine-Darby.  2009.  Apple snail demography in the Everglades: 2005-2007.  Draft Final Report to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Vero Beach, FL.

• Delaney, M.F., and C.L. Abercombie.  1986.  American alligator food habits in north central Florida.  Journal of Wildlife Management 50:348.

• Fogarty, M.J., and J.D. Albury.  1967.  Late summer foods of young alligators in Florida.  Proc. S.E. Association of Game & Fish Commissions 21:220-222.

• Kushlan, J.A.  1974.  Ecology of the white ibis in southern Florida.  Ph.D. Dissertation.  University of Miami, Coral Gables. 129pp.

• Snyder, N.F. and H.A. Snyder.  1969.  A comparative study of mollusk predation by limpkins, everglade kites, and boat-tailed grackles.  Living Bird 8:177-223.

• Snyder, N.F. and H.A. Snyder.  1971.  Defenses of the Florida apple snail Pomacea paludosa.  Behaviour 40:175-215.

• Sykes, P.W., Jr., J.A. Rodgers, Jr., and R.E. Bennetts.  1995.  Snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis).  In The Birds of North America, No. 171 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.).  The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologiests' Union, Washington, D.C.