parasitic snail id

[aquadonkey]

Hi everyone.
I noticed this snail today on my conch. This was the best pic I could get. You can see the point of the parasitic snail's shell just below the point of the conch shell.
It has a black body and reaches out to clean the sand with a trunk looking thing.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

perhaps a nassarius sp. "Parasite" means it lives off another organism; I doubt this one does, or it wouldn't just be hanging out cleaning your sandbed

 

[aquadonkey]

Well - as to whether it's living "off" the conch I'm not sure - but it's certainly living "on" the conch. If definitely Not a nassarius snail. It's reaching out from it's shell (attached to the conch) to the sand-bed. Looks funny actually - the conch's trunk in the front and this little black trunk getting the crumbs from behind.

 

[block head]

the best advice i can give is yank and save anything questionable if possible.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

Sorry, I thought it was the black spot in the sand. I'm not one to pull things, its probably a commensal relationship how long have had the conch? It sounds neat!

 

[moatdaddy]

im a shoot first and ask questions later kind of guy. I got a sweet acropora in and it had a crab on it. Took 5 minutes to get the thing off. It would run circles around the acro limbs. Finially it took two of us to get it off. Problem is, a minute later i researched it and it was an acro crab. Great symbiotic relationship. Lesson learned. I was able to return him to his acro where he is today. My 2 cents from that lesson is to research then react.

 

[aquadonkey]

Thanks for the replies guys - I think I'll observe for a while before taking any action.
MrSalty - the conch is new (to me anyway ). I got him on Wed and forgot to give a thorough check before introducing him. Hopefully you're right about it being commensal rather than parasitic - it's pretty cool for now.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

Ron Shimek is always a good person to ask about things like this.