Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea) is not native this far south. There has been debate over whether Littorina littorea is even native to North America. The typical belief was that the Common Periwinkle was introduced to North America from the ballasts of boats early on during the settlement of the northern coast of North America. In the 1960s, researchers found Littorina littorea shells in pre-Columbian mounds on Nova Scotia. It has only been in the last 100 years that the Common Periwinkle has spread south along the Atlantic coast. The date when the first Common Periwinkle was found along a jetty in West Ocean City was 9/16/59. Common Periwinkles have not spread into the bay and are only found along the coast. So any periwinkle found on the bay can still be safely identified as Littorina irrirata (Marsh Periwinkle).
There are 0 records in the project database.
| GA | AL | WA | FR | CL | MO | HO | BA | BC | HA | CE | PG | AA | CV | CH | SM | KE | QA | CN | TA | DO | WI | SO | WO |