A snail to ID

[musty baby]

For months I've had this in my tank, and never put together why my porites colony, despite having full polyp extension and great color, was dying off in blotches. Tonight I saw this snail, for the first time, actually on the coral, so I immediately pulled it off the coral and tossed it into the refugium. Later, a peppermint was picking at the exact same spot I removed the snail from, an indication to me that it was the culprit. Can anyone tell me, just out of curiousity, what this guy is? I don't know that I can get a better picture, though this one does not show its operculum if that is needed.

 

[musty baby]

oh- the shell is currently 1 inch long.

 

[cesau]

Looks like a conch to me...

 

[cesau]

Might be a whelk or nassarius... after looking at the photo closer I'm inclined to think its a Whelk - melev's comments on whelks:

"This is a Whelk, a snail that consumes dead livestock on the reef. It will also attempt to attack and kill snails. These are carnivores. I had at least six of these in my 55g reef for the past year, and never had a problem. After acclimating a baby Golden Maxima clam, the next day I found all the whelks finishing off my beautiful clam. They definitely attacked it - as clams are part of their diet - I only learned later. (sigh) NOT Reef-safe at all."

Sources:
http://melevsreef.com/id/whats_a_whelk.html
http://melevsreef.com/id/snails.html

 

[greenbean36191]

Yep, it's defintely a predatory whelk.

 

[musty baby]

Yep. Thanks guys. Strange, it hasn't touched my clams and those sites make no reference to consuming corals, but that's definitely what it is.

 

[greenbean36191]

It's more likely to go after worms and other small snails than clams. It won't eat corals.

 

[650-IS350]

Yup, had sum like those guys that came with my tbs shipment... I would always catch them following other snails or litterally touching them trying to probe them or something....

 

[musty baby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8708508#post8708508 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191
It's more likely to go after worms and other small snails than clams. It won't eat corals.

Well, it spent 15 minutes on the same (now dead) spot on a porites colony, which was away from any xmas tree worm. I can't say for sure that it ate the porites, but I have reason to be suspicious. The answer will come, for me, if my porites colony, which is currently about 30% bare, snaps back to 100% coverage after removing the whelk.