section_path: Native wildlife/Molluscs
section_name: Molluscs
paragraph_text: Molluscs
  
  Lake Victoria is home to 28 species of freshwater snails (e.g., Bellamya, Biomphalaria, Bulinus, Cleopatra, Gabbiella, and Melanoides), including 12 endemic species/subspecies. There are 17 species of bivalves (Corbicula, Coelatura, Sphaerium, and Byssanodonta), including 6 endemic species and subspecies. It is likely that undescribed species of snails remain. Conversely, genetic studies indicate that some morphologically distinctive populations, traditionally regarded as separate species, may only be variants of single species. Two of the snail genera, Biomphalaria and Bulinus, are intermediate hosts of the parasite that causes bilharzia (schistosomiasis). Human infections by this parasite are common at Lake Victoria. This may increase as a result of the spread of the invasive water hyacinth (an optimum snail habitat), and the loss of many snail-eating cichlids in the lake.