In previous years, we learned a lot about oyster drills and how far they can travel! In 2015, volunteer scientists helped researchers collect and tag 800 snails from four large rocks in Richardson Bay. Each snail was given an individual tag number, and rocks that snails were on were color-coded. All snails collected at a given rock were released from a common point at the base of that rock. Since each snail had its own number and colored tag, researchers and volunteer scientists were able to track the movement of the individual snails, and look at the population of oyster drills on the beach as a whole.

After 2 weeks, volunteer scientists worked with SERC researchers to search the rocks and surrounding mud flats for the tagged oyster drills, like an Easter egg hunt for marine biologists. We recorded the location of each tagged snail, and whether the snail was hidden (in a crevice or under a rock) or exposed. All rocks and mud flats were searched twice, by different team members. During the second round of searching, all tagged snails were collected and re-released from the base of their home rocks. Volunteers searched for snails again 6 weeks later.

What we discovered is that individual snails don’t travel very far! The farthest oyster drills traveled during this experiment was 15 feet. Because we know that oyster drills aren’t moving much, we hope that it is possible to remove the risk of oysters reducing oyster populations in a local area by removing the snails. This is the strategy that we are now pursuing! Removing snails regularly might aid the success of restoration efforts.