Need a sea slug ID...

[Tuscaquatics]

OK, so I found this little feller crawling around on some of the coral skeletons in my tank. I haven't added any rock or anything like that in at least 2 or 3 months. So I guess he's been hitchhiking for a while.

Anybody know what he is? He's about 3/4 of an inch. His body is either black or very dark red or blue, it's kinda hard to tell because of the lighting. But I'm gonna call it black. And then he obviously has that big white spot on his back.

I've had a problem with a big patch of zoos being wilted for a while. Could this guy be the problem?

 

[mjd33]

It's an elephant slug. I was trying to find one to purchase. That's why I signed on to this forum right now and...there it is! First thread. So if you don't want him send him my way.:thumbsup:

Link:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.seaslugforum.net/images/c126470c.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/scutus&usg=__EIiHl89qn7hQWoCACog5TIzf2qo=&h=235&w=350&sz=8&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=dRjLAOFFXsIAnM:&tbnh=81&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Delephant%2Bslug%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

 

[Tuscaquatics]

Cool. I was thinking it might have been a scutus snail. I guess it's the same thing.

I know they eat algae, but are they so good you would buy one?

 

[mjd33]

Here's a link to a video of mine:

http://www.vimeo.com/3220440

 

[mjd33]

Cool. I was thinking it might have been a scutus snail. I guess it's the same thing.

I know they eat algae, but are they so good you would buy one?

I just like them a lot. Since the vid I found out where to look for him and see him a lot more. Eye of the beholder I guess.

 

[Tuscaquatics]

Yeah, he is cool. I guess I'll leave him alone. As long as he doesn't bother anything then I like him. How much do you expect to pay for one of those?

 

[mjd33]

Yeah, he is cool. I guess I'll leave him alone. As long as he doesn't bother anything then I like him. How much do you expect to pay for one of those?

Not really sure. Mine was a hitchhiker too and I've never been able to find one to purchase.

If anyone reading this thread knows where to get them please reply.

Use a penlight to check him out at night. Hes got some really cool iridescent blue vein like coloration if you look close...just a cool animal. Enjoy

 

[Tuscaquatics]

From some of the other threads I've found about them online, they are pretty much impossible to find for purchase. I guess they're only found around Tasmania and New Zealand and they're protected.

I wonder how the heck he got in my tank. I guess it's just evidence of the crazy hitchhikers we can find in our tanks.

 

[mjd33]

I've been looking for a long time and found the same as you. Guess we can consider ourselves lucky.

 

[pagojoe]

Nah, they're found over just about the entire Indo-Pacific. There are a couple of species that are found only in Australia/New Zealand, though. They're not protected, nor endangered. But, like Stomatellas, they aren't easy to collect because they tend to be really good hiders.

Cheers,



Don

 

[Tuscaquatics]

From the Marine Education Society of Australasia site:

Elephant Snail, Scutus antipodes
"Found from New South Wales around southern Australia to Geraldton in Western Australia, including Tasmania and New Zealand."
http://www.mesa.edu.au/friends/seashores/s_antipodes.html


From the Tasmanian gov't:
http://www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/ALIR-4YD372?open

Or is mine just a more generic stomatella and not this species? I do realize that there are other species that have that flat shell.

 

[pagojoe]

The ones most often found as hitchhikers are Scutus unguis and Scutus sinensis. Scutus antipodes is apparently a cold-water or cool-water snail, and no live rock is exported from either Australia or New Zealand, so that reduces the chance that you'd accidentally end up with that species in your tank.

http://www.gastropods.com/5/Shell_1605.shtml

http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_8108.shtml

Cheers,



Don

 

[pagojoe]

...and I should have noted: that's assuming you're not already in NZ or NSW or Tasmania, and have your tank stocked with animals from there .

Don

 

[Elysia]

Your best luck will be to find someone who has more than two in their tank that hitchhiked in -- apparently the snails successfully reproduce in captivity, but I think that I read that they have specific genders.... They are great animals.

 

[RedGabino]

I have 2 of them, I Just find them last night. 1 on the rocks and the other one in front the overflow box. One is really small. But the other is altmost 1 inch.

Enviado desde mi SM-G930T mediante Tapatalk