Bdellocephala endemic to Lake Biwa, which is designated as Endangered by the Ministry of the Environment’s “Red List” (provided by Lake Biwa Trust)
On the 16th, Otsu City’s certified NPO “Biwako Trust” has a planarian “Bdellocephala”, which is endangered on the Red List of the Ministry of the Environment, off the lake Imazu (Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture). ) Announced that about 80 animals were found in July this year. It may have decreased due to an increase in water temperature and a decrease in oxygen concentration at the bottom of the lake.
According to Michio Kumagai, a professor at Ritsumeikan University, the secretary general of the corporation, Bdellocephala inhabits the bottom of a lake with a depth of more than 40 meters and a low water temperature. Larger ones are about 5 cm long. When surveyed at a nearby location in 2008, the average per square meter was 3.0, but this time it was 0.46.
