The Japanese Oyster Drill is an introduced species in British Columbia that originates in Asia: Japan, and Korea (
Global Invasive Species Database 2011). It arrived here with Japanese Oyster seed and was reported as abundant in Ladysmith Harbour and Boundary Bay by 1958 by
Carl and Guiget (1958). It is an invasive species that destroys populations of oysters, particularly that of
Crassostrea gigas (Global Invasive Species Database 2011).
"Ceratostoma inornatum tends to feed on young oysters such as Crassostrea gigas (Ray, 2005). C. inornatus uses its radular which acts as the drill, and "it secretes digestive enzymes into the hole, through which the snail sucks up the partially liquefied flesh." It eats about 3 oysters per week (Global Invasive Species Database 2011).