STUDIES ON DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF GROWTH AND FECUNDITY OF SNAIL LYMNAEA (RADIX) ACUMINATA (LAMARCK) OF SIMULTALLA LAKE (JHARKHAND)

Lymnaea acuminate is a fresh water snail and breeds throughout the year. The effect of pH, temperature and other physical factors influences the development, fecundity; hatchability and survival of young snails of L. acuminate were studied in this present piece of work. It was observed that these abiotic environmental various factors caused a significant variation in fecundity, hatchability and survival of snails. Maximum reproduction of this snail was observed in the monsoon season. A significant positive correlation ( p , 0.05) between shell size and body weight (y= 2967x-0.647  and  R2 =0.994) was observed. Maximum duration taken for the development were observed in the season of summer. Survival  of young snails was observed for each month and each interval of 24–72 h.  The egg production was observed maximum in the season of monsoon (265.0±1.50). Different  hatchability were observed in  different  seasons. The total post reproductive survival  and longevity was observed maximum in  the season of monsoon. This study conclusively shows that variant abiotic factors in different months of the year can significantly alter the reproductive ability and development process in the snail Lymnaea acuminate.