Belfort Park Retention Pond, Belfort Parkway, Southeastern Duval County Florida

      As part of an on-going project to formally document the presence of Pomacea paludosa (Say, 1829) [Florida Applesnail] in northeast Florida, on July 4, 2006 a visit was made to a series of small lakes (retention ponds) in the Belfort Park commercial office complex located on Belfort Parkway near J. Turner Butler Boulevard in southeastern Duval County.  The first two impoundments investigated had a thriving population of the invasive clam Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774) [Asian Clam] but no evidence of Pomacea was observed. However, as this reporter approached a third pond a single Pomacea egg clutch was spotted on the impoundments drainage structure. A closer examination revealed about a dozen additional clutches along the pond periphery confirming that a breeding population was present although no live or dead specimens could be found. During an examination of the ponds drainage plumbing it was discovered that it was connected to the nearby Big Pottsburg Creek swamp via an approximately 75-foot long underground concrete pipe. The snails apparently migrated from the swamp, which is known to have Pomacea present, to the pond via this means.

[Click on the images for a higher resolution version.]

Retention pond looking north

Retention pond looking west

Pond looking south

Pomacea egg clutches on pond vegetation