The Milk Snail In Florida

The milk snail, Otala lactea (Müller), belongs to that economically dreaded family helicidae which contains plant feeders or pests and most of the edible snails consumed with delight in some Mediterranean countries. Although Rust (1914) tried to promote it and other helicid snails as food in this country, snail food fanciers today are relatively few in this country (Dees, 1970). This snail has been called by other names such ns the Spanish snail, milky snail, and by California newspapers, the “African striped snail”, and by entrepreneurs who have promoted them as house pets, the “bejeweled creeping beauty” (Mead, 19 71). Another common use of this snail has been as fish bait (Ingram, 1952). No wonder this naturally inept migrant snail has turned up in so many places! It was first noticed in Florida in 1931 at Pass-a-Grille (van der Schalie,1938) apparently as an escapee from a curio dealer there who had obtained a series from Morocco. It still persists there today and in a few other areas of Pinellas County, apparently causing little·damage but locally abundant enough to cause homeowners concern.