Babylonia, commonly known as "flower snail", "east snail", "sea pig snail" and "south snail", is a mollusk gastropod moth snail family, distributed in the eastern and southern coasts of China, Southeast Asia and Japan. The main species in China are Babylonia quadrata, Babylonia quadrata and Babylonia Taiwan Province.

Babylonia is considered as one of the most promising marine aquaculture varieties. In recent years, Babylonia has been accepted by farmers in the southeast coast and gradually formed a production scale. Its meat is delicious, crisp and refreshing, and it is a very popular high-quality marine shellfish in domestic and foreign markets in recent years.

Breeding prospect

During 1990 ~ 2002, Xiamen University, Fujian Changle mussel farm, Nanhai Fisheries Research Institute, Zhanjiang Ocean University and other units successively studied the reproductive biology, ecological habits and artificial seedling raising techniques of Babylonia, and published related papers.

In recent years, the South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute has made phased achievements in artificial breeding and aquaculture of Babylonia. The experiment was carried out in Nan 'ao County, Guangdong Province in early and middle August, 2000. According to the statistics on September 5th, 8.03 million Babylonia areolata emerged, with an average shell height of1~ 2 mm..

In Guangzhou aquatic products market, the price of snails has risen from 70 yuan per kilogram at the beginning of the year to 120 yuan, and reached about 140 yuan at the highest time. Some farmers' markets are still out of stock. Experts believe that the prospect of artificial breeding snails is very promising.