Is this snail a predatory Whelk? ID

[napydred]

This guy has been in my tank for a while, it just occured on me it could be a Whelk. He spends most of his time in a cubby on the rock, i never see him on the glass or out and about, just lurking haha. Any ideas if it is a predatory Whelk or how I can tell if it is a Whelk would be appreciated, thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_rdNbFJgKQ

 

[greenbean36191]

Yes, it is a predatory whelk. No it's not a conch or Nassarius as suggested by the comments on the video. My best guess would be that it's Cantharus or a close relative. I'm sure Don will be by shortly to give you a much better specific ID on it. In any event, it's a predator of other small inverts and not something that's helpful to the tank.

 

[pagojoe]

Greenbean nailed it alright, it's a Cantharus species, and a snail eater. Looks to be Cantharus tinctus (or C. tincta in some publications).

http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_3228.html

Cheers,



Don

 

[napydred]

And I wondered why my snails in the aquapod died off one by one slowly over time, i think he may have gotten a couple hermit crabs too

 

[napydred]

I removed the Whelk to my smaller tank (ap12) I was planning on putting some livestock in the ap soon, but now it has the whelk in there. Will the Whelk descimate my live sand? there are a bunch of spagetti worms and brittle star looking tendrils coming out of the sandbed that I would like to continue to propagate in the aquapod. If the Whelk poses a problem to these creatures I will find another solution to the Whelk problem. Thanks for any feedback.