Seasonal dynamics of freshwater gastropods in central zone of Kashmir Valley, India

Abstract

The present study was carried out to study the prevalence and seasonal distribution of snail fauna in central zone of Kashmir valley. A total of 12,103 snails were collected during September 2017 to August 2018 and 10 snail species under 5 genera recorded were Physa acuta, Lymnaea lagotis f. costulata, L. stagnalis, L. brevicauda, auricularia var obliquata, L. luteola f. typica, Gyraulus ladacensis, G. pankogensis, Bithynia troscheli and Indoplanorbis exustus. Besides this, one unidentified snail was also reported. Species-wise overall prevalence was observed highest for P. acuta (18.65%), followed by L. lagotis (15.54%), L. stagnalis (13.31%), G. ladacensis (11.49%), L. brevicauda (10.19%), B. troscheli (8.00%), L. auricularia (6.94%), I. exustus (5.32%), L. luteola (5.15%), G. pankogensis (3.42%) and lowest for unidentified snail (1.94%). Prevalence of snails was found to be highest in summer (53.81%) followed by spring (29.76%), autumn (15.66%) and lowest in winter season (0.75%), the difference being statistically significant between seasons. Overall F% and RF% of snails was observed to be highest for P. acuta followed by Lymnaea spp. other than L. stagnalis, Gyraulus spp., B. troscheli, I. exustus and lowest for unidentified snail. Overall F% and RF% of snails was also observed highest in summer followed by spring, autumn and lowest in winter season. Based on RF%, all snails were found highly distributed, except for unidentified snail, which was found to be lightly distributed. The study concluded that Physa snails were found highly prevalent. Knowledge of the particular snail and cercariae released by them could be used to formulate control strategy to reduce the burden of trematode parasites in animals. Unidentified snail recorded in this study appears to be new species, which needs further detailed investigation.