Those floating snails

‍If you’ve been on the lake in the past week, you’ve probably seen large numbers of dead snails floating on the water. This snail die-off is likely triggered by extreme heat.

‍ Many of the floating mollusks appear to be invasive mystery snails, which are known to infest Big Mantrap Lake. The Minnesota DNR reports that these invaders are prone to massive die-offs in summer.

‍Burney Fischer, BMLA’s Coalition of Lake Associations representative, reported spotting lots of floating snails throughout our lake while doing weekly water clarity sampling across eight lake sites. At this week’s Hubbard County COLA meeting, Fischer said, members confirmed that snail die-offs are occurring across many area lakes.

If lots of snails wash up on your lakeshore, they can get stinky. The DNR recommends cleaning them up and placing them in trash bags for disposal. ‍

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