ID On WEIRD Snails...?

[Todd March]

My LFS sold two of these snails to be as "Cerith" snails. And while the shell is elongated like a traditional Cerith, they have the weirdest protrusions coming up off the shell--they almost look like "staghorn snails" for lack of a better description... They also climbed up onto the rock very fast, something I though Ceriths were not big on...?

I've net surfed for hours, and cannot find one photograph even close to ID'ing these guys...?

Here is a pic, although a crappy one. They are about 1.25" inches long...

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

 

[flyyyguy]

im guessign it is indeed a cerith or similr snail...with something else growing on them.

pic is too blurry to even make a guess though

 

[Todd March]

Yeah, I know the picture is cruddy...

But these protrusions are actually part of the snails shell--they do not seem to be something else growing on the shell...?

 

[flyyyguy]

Ya...after posting I realized it was soemone with experience who posted the thread and I figured you would know the difference.

It looks like a chia-snail

 

[Todd March]

They do resemble what a chia-snail would be like, lol...!


After acclimating for over 35 hours, they have settled in and are acting like traditional Ceriths--working the top layers of sand but good for what I assume is bacteria and algaes, so I am not too worried. That was weird at first how they climbed to the rock and just hung there as if the sand were cursed...?!

 

[pagojoe]

You need an apertural view to ID anything that's as encrusted as your snail. Ceriths and their relatives have distinctive apertures, so you should at least be able to get a family-level ID if you flip it over. Most of the growths/protuberances you see weren't added by the snail, they are encrustations of some sort(s).

Cheers,



Don

 

[Todd March]

I examined them closer tonight, and they do indeed have the Cerith hallmark siphon canal at an oblique angle to the (long) axis of the shell. And the horns do seem to be encrusted on the shell surface--though these protrusions have no coralline coverage or coloring at all...

So I guess the question is now, what is this stuff on my Ceriths...?

 

[pagojoe]

I don't know what you should properly call it, but it's the same stuff that will encrust a beer bottle in less than a year if you throw it out on the reef. I always figured it was just another variation of coralline growth, but maybe it isn't. It's some kind of calcification, though, and I think some microorganisms are responsible for the deposits. Greenbean may be able to clarify what it is?

Cheers,



Don