Resident baffled after finding mystery eggs on hose
A woman has been left baffled after finding an unusual looking egg mass at her home in Queensland.
Ammie Roach posted a picture on the Noosa Community Notice Board Facebook page on Monday, which showed the pink-coloured eggs in a jelly-like substance which appeared to be attached to hosing, and asked “Does anyone know what would have laid these eggs?”
Numerous people likened the egg mass to “baked beans”, while others let their imaginations run wild, with much more far-fetched suggestions including “aliens” and “zombies”.
A different Facebook user told Ms Roach to wait and see what hatched.
But Ms Roach later commented on her post that she had found out what deposited the eggs and told another person they are freshwater snail eggs.
Dr John Healy, Curator of Molluscs (Biodiversity Program) at the Queensland Museum confirmed they are definitely from a freshwater species.
“That looks like the egg mass of the Spike-topped Apple Snail (Pomacea diffusa) – which was introduced from tropical South America almost certainly via aquarium ‘release’ – they sell them in aquarium shops and I guess people ‘let them go’ into the local freshwater environment when they no longer want them,” Dr Healy told Yahoo7.
According to the Queensland Museum website a significant population of the Spike-topped Apple Snail was discovered in late 2006 in a waterway on Brisbane’s north side.
And Dr Healy added they seem to have no trouble breeding.
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“The snails leave the water to lay their eggs. In an aquarium, they climb the side of the tank and deposit over 100 pink-coloured eggs that hatch in two to three weeks,” the museum’s website states.
Dr Healy said this is presumably to stop fish from consuming them.
