Ocean Lecture Series

Snails, Whorls, and Pearls: The Gastropod Research Program at Harbor Branch
Amber Garr & Megan Davis

About the Lecture

There are over 75,000 species of snails in the world. During this presentation, you will experience the fascinating life of the freshwater apple snail and saltwater queen conch, both of which are known as gastropod molluscs and learn about their important contributions to science and the environment.

The Florida apple snail is a critical food resource for the endangered snail kite. Droughts have drastically impacted the apple snail populations, particularly in Lake Okeechobee. In partnership with the South Florida Water Management District, Harbor Branch has been culturing apple snails for stock enhancement. We have successfully developed culture techniques that enable adult snails to lay eggs in captivity and enhance the growth and survival of young snails. Field trials will determine a stock enhancement strategy for Lake Okeechobee to increase the snail populations to a level that will support the snail kite.

Mollusks such as oysters, scallops, conch, and abalone are not only delicious to eat, but they also form beautiful pearls. Pearls come in many colors, shapes, and sizes and come from a wide variety of mollusks.  Whether natural or cultured, pearls are formed due to a shelly secretion that covers an irritant. Recently Harbor Branch scientists were the first to reliably produce cultured queen conch pearls. This presentation will cover how pearls are formed, the history of cultured pearls, and Harbor Branch's cultured queen conch pearl success.

About the Speakers

Amber Garr is a Research Associate in Harbor Branch’s Center for Aquaculture and Stock Enhancement. She has conducted research on conch aquaculture and fisheries management for nearly a decade. More recently, she has worked on developing commercial culture techniques for the Florida apple snail. Her research interests focus on the use of gastropods in developing aquaculture for stock enhancement programs and as indicators of ecosystem health. She also frequently participates in aquaculture education and outreach programs and manages the development of new initiatives. Amber received her Masters degree in 2001 from Duke University, and she is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Integrative Biology at Florida Atlantic University.

Dr. Megan Davis is Director of the Center for Aquaculture and Stock Enhancement. She has actively worked in the field of aquaculture for the past 30 years. As co-founder of a conch farm in the Turks and Caicos Islands, she developed commercial applications for culturing queen conch from the egg to juvenile stage. Her interests are to develop aquaculture species for food and stock enhancement and to ease fishing pressure on wild stocks. She actively works on projects with goals to produce aquaculture species and systems that are cost effective, energy efficient, and environmentally sustainable. She has been involved in several aquaculture retraining and education outreach programs to assist participants in advancing the aquaculture industry. Dr. Davis received her Ph.D. from the Department of Biology at the Florida Institute of Technology in 1998.