Mission to save Cuba’s endangered rainbow snails begins

In the forests of eastern Cuba, a group of rare and vividly coloured snails is under threat — not from predators or disease, but from their own striking beauty.

Image used for illustrative purposes/Painted Snail (Polymita picta) in Cuba/rappman/Wikimedia Commons

The Polymita tree snails, often dubbed “the most beautiful snails in the world,” are being driven toward extinction by collectors who covet their brightly patterned shells.

Now, a collaboration between Cuban biologists and researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK has launched an ambitious project to save them.

Snails in the spotlight: Nature’s living artworks

There are six known species of Polymita snails, all endemic to Cuba, each showcasing dazzling hues and intricate swirls. Among them, Polymita sulphurosa stands out — its shell is lime green, traced with blue flame-like coils and accented by vibrant orange and yellow bands.

But this flamboyant colouring, an evolutionary mystery in itself, is a double-edged sword.

“One of the reasons I’m interested in these snails is because they’re so beautiful,” said Prof. Angus Davison, an evolutionary geneticist and mollusc expert at the University of Nottingham.

“Their beauty attracts people who collect and trade shells. So the very thing that makes them different and interesting to me as a scientist is, unfortunately, what’s endangering them as well.”

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The illegal trade behind the trend

Cuban Painted Snail/Thomas Brown/Wikimedia Commons

Although Polymita snails are protected under international law — namely the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) — enforcement is patchy. It is illegal to remove the snails or their shells from Cuba without a permit, yet the shells are often legally sold elsewhere.

Online listings reveal how widespread this trade is. Prof Davison found a UK-based seller offering a set of seven Polymita shells for £160. He warned that this demand could have dire consequences.

“For some of these species, we know they’re really quite endangered,” he said.

“So it wouldn’t take much [if] someone collects them in Cuba and trades them, to cause some species to go extinct.”

The danger isn’t limited to collectors. Habitat loss due to forest clearing and the effects of climate change also put the snails at risk.

“You can easily imagine where people collecting shells would tip a population over into local extinction,” Prof. Davison added.

From Cuba to the UK: A cross-continental conservation effort

The international rescue mission is being led on the ground in Cuba by Prof. Bernardo Reyes-Tur, a conservation biologist at Universidad de Oriente in Santiago de Cuba. He has taken the unusual step of bringing Polymita snails into his home for captive breeding.

“They have not bred yet, but they’re doing well,” he explained via video call.

“It’s challenging though — we have blackouts all the time.”

Despite power cuts and high humidity, Prof Reyes-Tur is determined to help the snails survive. His efforts are supported by the University of Nottingham’s high-tech laboratory, where samples of snail tissue are preserved in cryogenic freezers.

Unlocking the snails’ genetic secrets

While Prof Reyes-Tur tends to living snails in Cuba, Prof Davison’s team is working on sequencing their genomes. By analysing the genetic code, they hope to answer key questions: How many species of Polymita actually exist? How are they related? And what genetic mechanisms create their remarkable shell patterns?

This knowledge could play a vital role in conservation, helping to identify and protect genetically distinct populations before they are lost forever.

“Eastern Cuba is the only place in the world where these snails are found,” Prof Davison told the BBC.

“That’s where the expertise is — where the people who know these snails, love them and understand them, live and work.

We hope we can use the genetic information that we can bring to contribute to their conservation.”

A race against time

With collectors circling and habitat disappearing, the clock is ticking. The ultimate goal of this UK-Cuban partnership is not just to admire the beauty of Polymita snails, but to ensure that future generations can still find them alive and thriving — not just behind glass.

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