Any idea what this is (sort of snail-like?)

[pherbert]

Saw this crawling on a rock today. Can someone help me out here and tell me what it is? I would say it is about 3/4" long and looks like a snail body, but the shell is more of a shield than a helmet. You can't really tell from the picture but it looks like the shell only covers about 1/2 of that slug-like body. I'm always suspicious of things I'm seeing for the first time in the tank.

Thanks for helping out the newbie!

 

[WM15]

stomatella i have a couple in my tank now they seem to eat algae

 

[pherbert]

Yup, mystery solved. Someone on one of the other forums came up with the same answer.

I googled Stomatella Varia and after reading a page full of links I'm sure that's correct.

There is so much info out there on the hundreds of pages that I've read that I know I've probably come across that before but I sure couldn't figure out how to find it for myself tonight! Figured it was best to see if I could get an answer on what it was while I could still find it and kill it if I needed to.

Anyway, I may not be a real frequest poster, but I'm reading this site every day and very much appreciate the help.

Thanks!
Pat