to Lake Ontario, in 1977-1978. Jokinen (1982) records occurrences of populations of Cipangopaludina chinensis in the drainages of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Michigan, from the states of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and New York. It is regulated in Minnesota where it is illegal to release it into the wild. Ecology This species prefers freshwater lakes with soft, muddy or silty bottoms, reservoirs, slow-moving freshwater rivers, streams, paddy fields, and ponds with aquatic grass, creeping at the bottom of the water or on aquatic grasses. It prefers lentic water bodies with silt, sand, and mud substrate in eastern North America, although it can survive in slower regions of streams as well. It can tolerate conditions in stagnant waters near septic tanks. This species has been found in waters in eastern North America with pH 6.5–8.4, calcium concentration of 5–97 ppm, magnesium concentration of 13–31 ppm, oxygen concentration of 7–11 ppm, depths of 0.2–7m, conductivity of 63–400 μmhos/cm, and sodium concentration of 2–49 ppm. The optimal water temperature for it to grow and develop is between 20 and 28 °C. It will hibernate while water temperature is lower than 10-15 °C or higher than 30 °C. Feeding habits Cipangopaludina chinensis feeds non-selectively on organic and inorganic bottom material as well as benthic and epiphytic algae, mostly by scraping, but diatoms are probably the most nutritious food it ingests at sites in eastern North America. This species is primarily an algae eater in an aquarium context. These snails are popular in freshwater aquariums because they do not eat fish eggs or plants, they do not overpopulate the aquarium, and they close up if there is a water problem, giving people an indication that something is wrong a few weeks before the fish die. Life cycle Reproduction is initiated sexually. This species is ovoviviparous. Females live up to 5 years, while males live up to 3, occasionally 4 years. Female fecundity is usually greater than 169 young in a lifetime, and may reach up to 102 for any given brood. All females generally contain embryos from May to August and young are born from June through October in eastern North America in shallow water, then females begin migrating to deeper water for the winter in the fall. Females bear more young in their 4th and 5th years than in other years. Parasites Bellamya chinensis serves in its native habitat as a host