Kauai streams are habitat
of threatened snail

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Star-Bulletin staff

Nine streams and tributaries on Kauai were proposed Monday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a critical habitat for the Newcomb's snail, a freshwater snail listed as a threatened species.

Areas proposed for the snails' protection total more than 16 miles and are located at mid-elevation valleys in remote areas.

Anne Badgley, regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific Region, said, "The Newcomb's snail needs cool, clean, moderate- to fast-flowing water in permanently flowing streams, springs and seeps, and the surrounding riparian area helps create these conditions. For that reason it is included in the critical habitat units."

The units are purposely scattered across the northern streams of Kauai to improve the species' chance of survival.

Proposed critical habitat units where Newcomb's snails are currently found are along the Kalalau Stream, Lumahai River, Hanalei River, Waipahee Stream, Makaleha Stream and the north fork of the Wailua River. Historically, the snails were found along Hanakoa Stream, Hanakapiai Stream and Wainiha River. State and private land make up the proposed critical habitat.

The Newcomb's snail lives in fresh water and spend its entire life in the same stream. Larvae of other freshwater Hawaiian snails are found within ocean waters, where they spread to other streams in their adult stages. Its shell is described as smooth, oval, black and about a quarter-inch long. The snail feeds upon algae and other materials that grow on submerged rocks.

Though biologists estimate between 6,000 and 7,000 Newcomb's snails exist on Kauai, more than 90 percent of the snails are found in two areas along the Kalalau Stream and Lumahai River.

"This makes these animals very susceptible to catastrophic events such as hurricanes, landslides and invasions of non-native predators," Badgley said.

Comments may be mailed or dropped off to the field supervisor of the Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 300 Ala Moana, Room 3-122, Box 50088, Honolulu, HI 96850.