ID please

[dugg]

I caught this guy in the gulf yesterday and want to find out for sure what it is before i put it in my reef. I know it's some sort of Conch, but now sure what kind or if it's reef safe.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Florida Killer conch?

LL

 

[TulsaReefer]

Look at the eye stalks, if they don't really taper very much, and have fairly large round eyes on the end that have distinct rings of colors in them (sometimes blue) around a black pupil then it's more likely a conch. If the eye stalks are tapered, end in a tiny point with a tiny eye or no visible eye, it's more likely a whelk. Whelks are often predatory and not usually considered "reef safe".

And just to be safe if your going to collect live critters in Florida you need to learn to identify the Queen Conch. These are a protected species and illegal to collect.

 

[dugg]

He does have tapered eye stalks. Are they peditory towards fish or just corals? One of my tanks just has an RBTA and a few fish in it.

 

[TulsaReefer]

Different whelks have different diets. Some may eat other snails, clams, or even fish. Since whelks aren't usually really useful for cleanup crews, people don't usually bother to keep them. No telling what this one eats. I had one once that had come in a shipment of snails and I decided to keep it for a while to see what it might do. Then one day I found it trying to suck an astrea snail out of it's shell. That's when I decided to get rid of it. Some may be scavengers, but it's hard to know what they may decide to eat in the end.

 

[dugg]

I will take him back to the beach next weekend then and let him go back where he came from.

 

[gws76]

Looks like a King Conch, it will eat your current snails.