Mediterranean Snail found in the UK
09-09-2008
The Mediterranean snail not thought to exist in the UK has been found as part of a 100 year colony at Cliveden House. The snail from the med is 11mm long and a colony of several hundred has been found. This snail shares some similarities with another invasive alien species – Japanese knotweed.
However, luckily there are some crucial differences. The snails do not appear to be having a negative impact on other organisms and are not spreading at a huge rate and posing problems to the construction and development industry. Another ironic difference comes because Japanese knotweed was knowingly introduced to the UK as an ornamental plant and has had a large negative effect, where as these snails snuck into the UK with an imported Italian marble balustrade, yet have remained undiscovered and posed no problems over the last 100 years.
