Haloa japonica, common name the Japanese bubble snail, is a species of sea snail or bubble snail, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusc in the family Haminoeidae, one of the families of bubble snails.
Distribution The species is found in the Pacific Ocean, Mediterranean and North Sea: Japan Korea Hong Kong The Philippines Thailand Mediterranean Sea including Sète and Étang de Berre, France California and Washington, USA Southern British Columbia, Canada Taiwan Netherlands (incl. Zeeland)
Description Their shells have length around 11 mm and width around 8 mm.
Parasites The parasites of Haloa japonica include an avian schistosome, which has been implicated in human cercarial dermatitis in San Francisco Bay, California.Brant S. V., Cohen A. N., James D., Hui L., Hom A. & Loker E. S. (2010) "Cercarial dermatitis transmitted by exotic marine snail". Emerging Infectious Diseases 16(9): 1357-1365. HTM, PDF.
References
Further reading Gosliner T. M. & Behrens D. W. (2006). "Anatomy of an invasion: systematics and distribution of the introduced opisthobranch snail, Haminoea japonica Pilsbry, 1895 (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia: Haminoeidae)". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 57: 1003–1010. Hanson D., Cooke S., Hirano Y., Malaquias M.A. E., Crocetta F. & Valdés Á. (2013) "Slipping through the Cracks: The Taxonomic Impediment Conceals the Origin and Dispersal of Haminoea japonica, an Invasive Species with Impacts to Human Health". PLoS ONE 8(10): e77457.