id me please

[inthedeep2]

i would like to know what this snail is and if it is ok to be in my reef tank

 

[Anemone]

Although I'm not a snail ID expert, that looks like snail-eating whelks I have had in my tanks in the past. So, if you want to keep other snails, I'd say it's not a keeper....

Kevin

 

[skeletor121]

I second the snail-eating whelk ID.

 

[pagojoe]

Hey Guys,

This is probably going to be a snail in the murex family rather than a whelk (family Buccinidae). The main consideration is whether it is an ergalataxine murex, in which case it will most likely be a predator on other molluscs, or whether it belongs in the subfamily Coralliophilinae, in which case it would feed on corals. I don't recognize the species offhand, although I can try to figure it out after I get home from work. Snails in both the subfamilies Ergalataxinae and Coralliophilinae typically have the rough shell sculpture like this one. The spiral sculpture looks like little beads arranged in cords, but feels almost like sandpaper when your rub your thumb over it. Examples from those subfamilies:

http://www.gastropods.com/0/Shell_7720.html

http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_10466.html

My guess is that it's not going to be one of the coral eaters.

Cheers,



Don

 

[Arati]

Thats what I love about this site. Ya never know when someone like pagojoe or some other expert is just gonna drop it with uber knowledge. GG Team RC!

 

[Anemone]

Don,

Thanks for the info! Sorry that I sometimes am not too exact in my language - I should have said "whelk-like."

I'm really not educated in the differences between whelks and murexs, but didn't want to say just "bad snail, bad, no keep!" :lol:

Kevin

 

[diverdick]

here here.....bad snail.......flush it man.

 

[pagojoe]

LOL, whelk-like is probably close enough. Seems like most of the aquarium world don't know that murexes are an option, so any snail eater is considered a whelk. Even the big shots seem to call them all whelks. Anyway... I found this little fellow. As I guessed, it's an ergalataxine murex, and is in fact Ergalatax contracta (or E. contractus in some of the literature). Interestingly, Okutani et. al. in "Marine Mollusks in Japan" note that this species is a SCAVENGER. I don't know how literally you should take that, but you might want to keep the snail and see if it bothers anything else. If you catch it hitching a ride on another snail, you can be pretty sure it's not just joyriding. Who knows, it may be just another member of a good cleanup crew.

Here is a pic of it (disregard the lower photos, some of them are different species, but the top one on this page is really E. contracta):

http://www.gastropods.com/3/Shell_7143.html

Cheers,



Don