There seemed to be a little bit of disagreement at the meeting yesterday as to what species some snails for sale/trade were…
Let me first state that I will be the first one to admit I am NO SNAIL EXPERT, I know just enough to be dangerous I mean I can tell a astrea from a cerith but that is about as far as my snail expertise goes.
Proper identification of snails is challenging because It is often minute differences in the shell that determines the species.
Also the sheer number of species and their relative closeness makes it challenging also.
The snails I bought were sold to me as: Strombus snails (strombus maculates)
A quick description of that species states:
The marine aquarium industry's hottest new grazer. Reef-safe, highly active, approx. 1/4 inch shell. These are miniature Pacific relatives of the famous Queen Conch known from Caribbean waters. Hawaiian Strombus Grazers stay small and never exceed about 1/2 inch in length. They are the perfect size for reef aquariums! Many customers report that our Strombus Grazers lay eggs on the front glass, giving rise about 2 weeks later to hundreds of baby snails. An army of small algae eaters working day and night to keep your tank free of problem algae!
However, according to Ron Shimek this species, although sold as the Pacific spotted conch, Strombus maculatus, is not that species, and actually is a columbellid snail, probably in the genus Euplica or Pyrene.
As close as I can tell the shell below is of the snails I got yesterday.
Ron Shimek also says This small columbellid (Euplica or Pyrene species) is often misidentified as "Strombus maculatus." It is a **whelk look-alike*** that is a highly beneficial grazer found in many reef aquaria. Notice that although it has a siphonal notch and visible siphon, shown in the left image, it really doesn't have a siphonal canal. It grows to a length of up to 8 mm
After much reading I have come to the conclusion that unless one is dealing with a fairly distinctive animal, one can never be sure of the identification from website pics.
All that said my preference at this time would be to say that it is a columbellid, similar to Pyrene aka beneficial grazer.
Let me first state that I will be the first one to admit I am NO SNAIL EXPERT, I know just enough to be dangerous I mean I can tell a astrea from a cerith but that is about as far as my snail expertise goes.
Proper identification of snails is challenging because It is often minute differences in the shell that determines the species.
Also the sheer number of species and their relative closeness makes it challenging also.
The snails I bought were sold to me as: Strombus snails (strombus maculates)
A quick description of that species states:
The marine aquarium industry's hottest new grazer. Reef-safe, highly active, approx. 1/4 inch shell. These are miniature Pacific relatives of the famous Queen Conch known from Caribbean waters. Hawaiian Strombus Grazers stay small and never exceed about 1/2 inch in length. They are the perfect size for reef aquariums! Many customers report that our Strombus Grazers lay eggs on the front glass, giving rise about 2 weeks later to hundreds of baby snails. An army of small algae eaters working day and night to keep your tank free of problem algae!
However, according to Ron Shimek this species, although sold as the Pacific spotted conch, Strombus maculatus, is not that species, and actually is a columbellid snail, probably in the genus Euplica or Pyrene.
As close as I can tell the shell below is of the snails I got yesterday.
Ron Shimek also says This small columbellid (Euplica or Pyrene species) is often misidentified as "Strombus maculatus." It is a **whelk look-alike*** that is a highly beneficial grazer found in many reef aquaria. Notice that although it has a siphonal notch and visible siphon, shown in the left image, it really doesn't have a siphonal canal. It grows to a length of up to 8 mm
After much reading I have come to the conclusion that unless one is dealing with a fairly distinctive animal, one can never be sure of the identification from website pics.
All that said my preference at this time would be to say that it is a columbellid, similar to Pyrene aka beneficial grazer.
