ID - Cowrie?

[rogeragrimes]

[cross posted because the other one was in the wrong forum]

Found this guy crawling my front glass of my display tank, when I came down early this morning (5AM, dark). When I grabbed him with some forceps, part of him felt hard, like rock. I picked him and put in my QT, and within a minute disappeared.

 

[AlSimmons]

Whatever it is it looks pretty cool. The link below might help.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/rs/index.php

 

[rogeragrimes]

Thanks for the link. After reading about them...some are reef safe...some snack on soft corals (which I have a lot in my tank)...but they all eat algae, which I'm fighting at the moment, so I put him back in. When I found him, he was crawling on the tank window, probably eating algae. I've never seen him bothering any of my soft corals...so I'm taking a risk and putting it back in the DT.

 

[pagojoe]

It is a cowry, and should be generally harmless. I don't recognize the mantle, but if you catch it again and touch the mantle, it should withdraw and let you photograph the shell.

 

[rogeragrimes]

It is a cowry, and should be generally harmless. I don't recognize the mantle, but if you catch it again and touch the mantle, it should withdraw and let you photograph the shell.

Ah, I wish I had read this first before I returned it to the big DT...he's hiding now. When I grabbed him in the QT...he was all out...but he went in and I saw nothing but the shell. But I didn't photograph it (although I thought about it), before I put it back in the DT. I should have planned better.

 

[Greybeard]

Had a 4" tiger cowry consume an entire purple sponge that was bigger than he was. It's a shame, really, I liked the darned thing, but he had to go.