BATON ROUGE, La. â Calling them the densest heâs ever seen, LSU AgCenter entomologist Blake Wilson was startled to find invasive apple snail egg masses in St. James Parish, but said preventative measures, and a little help from Mother Nature, can mitigate the spread and potential damage to the crawfish industry.
Wilson, who specializes in agriculture pest management research, had previously encountered high concentrations of apple snails, or Pomacea maculata, in Calcasieu, Vermillion and Lafayette parishes, with smaller concentrations in Cameron and Jefferson Davis.
Last week he received a call from a concerned crawfish farmer from St. James, who discovered the unmistakable bright, pink eggs. Wilson believes severe weather and flooding over the last year could have contributed to the spread.