About Planorbella duryi (Wetherby, 1879)
Wild individuals of Planorbella duryi are brown. Captive-bred populations have been developed in a wide range of colors: brown, brown leopard, blue, blue leopard, red/orange, pink, green, and purple. This snail species is endemic to freshwater ecosystems in the U.S. state of Florida. Fossils of Planorbella duryi dating to the Piacenzian age have been recovered from the Tamiami Formation. The species has been introduced to Hawaii, where it now lives in the wild. It is also an introduced species in various European islands and countries: it occurs as a "hothouse alien" in Great Britain and Ireland, and has been recorded in Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia (a live population was found in a thermally heated brook fed by the Sliač spa in 2023). Outside of Europe, introduced populations have been found in parts of southern Nigeria (including Ogun State, Lagos, and Oyo State), and in Palestine, where it was first discovered in a pond at the Palestine Museum of Natural History. Planorbella duryi occurs in most types of freshwater habitats, including streams and ponds. It is a very common aquarium snail; their eggs often are accidentally introduced to aquariums on aquatic plants. Some aquarium keepers consider Planorbella duryi a pest, because it breeds very quickly and can overpopulate enclosures. Other keepers value the species as a cleanup crew member in aquariums.
