National Institute of Ecology Successfully Achieves Artificial Breeding of Endangered Species 'Chamdalpaengi'

Young individual of the true slug.

[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The National Institute of Ecology under the Ministry of Environment announced on the 13th that it has secured the endangered wild species Class II Chamdalpaengi (Chamdalpaengi snail) from Hongdo Island in Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, and recently succeeded in artificial breeding.

Chamdalpaengi is an endemic species of Korea found only in the island areas around Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, and is a mollusk belonging to the snail family. It is hermaphroditic, lays fertilized eggs once, and mainly inhabits moist forest trees.

Although it plays an important role in maintaining the ecosystem of island areas such as Hongdo and serves as a biological indicator species, it is currently threatened with extinction due to farmland reclamation and pesticide spraying. Chamdalpaengi was selected as a priority restoration species by the Ministry of Environment in 2018, but restoration efforts have been difficult due to a lack of information on its food sources and life cycle.

The Endangered Species Restoration Center of the National Institute of Ecology secured five Chamdalpaengi snails from Hongdo in October 2018 and established a customized breeding environment with temperatures between 24?27℃ and humidity above 80% to enable effective restoration breeding.

As a result, in September last year, two Chamdalpaengi snails laid 38 milky white eggs about 3mm in size. Two months later, 12 of these eggs successfully hatched, and in December, an additional 10 eggs were discovered among the group, which are currently being induced to hatch.

The research team is currently separating the hatched juveniles and adults for individual breeding. They are providing vegetables such as cucumber and lettuce, as well as calcium sticks as food, while analyzing ecological information such as growth rates and survival rates at different growth stages to utilize in future Chamdalpaengi restoration and breeding.

A representative of the National Institute of Ecology said, "Based on research on the natural habitat environment of Chamdalpaengi, we applied optimal environmental conditions and succeeded in this artificial breeding." He added, "This success is significant in that it confirmed the basic life cycle and breeding potential of Chamdalpaengi."

The research team plans to expand Chamdalpaengi restoration research by developing more advanced breeding techniques such as identifying spawning conditions and inducing artificial spawning through basic life cycle studies.

Park Yong-mok, Director of the Institute of Ecology, said, "This indoor artificial breeding of Chamdalpaengi has opened opportunities for biodiversity and ecosystem health recovery," and added, "We will do our best to conserve habitats and promote breeding and restoration of endangered wild species in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.