It has been confirmed for the first time that leopard-spotted snails, which are mainly found in Europe and North America, are living in large numbers in Korea.
It mainly feeds on mold and decaying plants, but it has the potential to cause damage to crops, so further research is needed in the future.
This is reporter Kim Pyeong-jeong.
[Reporter]
I shine a flashlight here and there in the dark grass and look around.
When I look through the leaves, a slug with a slim and plump body is revealed.
If you look closely, you will see that it is a leopard-spotted snail, which is characterized by dense black dots.
This is a leopard-spotted slug that I just caught. It has the thickness and length of an adult finger and can grow up to 20cm.
They can be easily found in bushes and even near water, and on nearby trees, the slime left behind by slugs as they pass by dries out and dries out.
This is the first time that it has been officially confirmed that leopard-spotted slugs, originally native to Europe and North Africa, inhabit Korea in large numbers.
The problem is that we don’t yet know exactly what impact it will have on our ecosystem.
In Japan, where leopard-spotted slugs were introduced before us in 2006 and have now spread throughout the archipelago, a
test was conducted to determine which types of plants they preferred among 23 species as food, and cruciferous plants showed the highest preference.
The cruciferous family includes vegetables we commonly eat, such as cabbage, lettuce, and broccoli, so there is a possibility that it may cause long-term damage to crops.
[Park Young-jun / Senior researcher, Alien Biology Team, National 레고토토Institute of Ecology: Looking at the case of Japan, there are concerns that if the leopard-spotted slug occurs and spreads, it will have a significant impact on the vegetation and agricultural economy of the area. Likewise, in Korea, significant damage to crops can be expected.]
The National Institute of Ecology plans to conduct full-scale research on the impact on our ecosystem, including the food preferences of leopard-spotted slugs, starting next year when the related budget is secured.
The number of exotic species introduced into the country has tripled in 12 years, from 890 species in 2009 to 2,600 species in 2021.
As the introduction of alien species is expected to increase not only due to international exchange but also to accelerating climate change, more rapid response and extensive research seem to be necessary.
This is Kim Pyeong-jeong of YTN.
