Maverick organisms on the run

Dr Abe V Rotor

Golden Kuhol (Pomacea caniculata), introduced
originally as source of food

Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica), introduced by Japanese
soldiers during WWII, believed as agent of biological warfare.
Today it is a pest of a host of garden crops.

• The janitor fish, loved for its ability to clean the aquarium, for which it got its name, is now a pest in Laguna Bay, competing with the edible fish species, such as tilapia and carp.

• Golden kuhol or golden snail, imported in the seventies to support the government’s food production program, has turned into a maverick, now the number one pest of rice. More than half of our total riceland (3.5 million hectares) is attacked by this mollusk every planting season.

• The deadly African bees continue to invade and hybridize with domestic bees in the US as well as in other places, transmitting in their genes their aggressiveness and venom.

 Harlequin Bug

 Gambusia Fish

Kudzu, relative of makahiya (Mimosa) 

To be continued ...