Snail ID please, three pics

[azrien]

I found this snail burrowing in the substrate. It generally stays in its own "territory." I have finally decided to separate it into a cup just temporarily- if people think it's reef safe, back it goes. If not, it's escargot.

If the pictures aren't clear enough, it appears checkered black and off-white/cream. I can't seem to find a proper ID for it though right now it's between cerith and pyramid, but I don't think either are correct. Thanks!

Close up

Peeking out

Size comparison, snail and US dime.

 

[azrien]

Going to guess on my own question.... Nassarius vibex?

 

[LazyD]

Im having trouble remembering where I saw it but I did read something on the net the otherday while browsing about how that particular snail you have looks similar to a Nassarius, but its actually not....Found it!

Thank you Melevsreef....

Looks like a Whelk Snail....Read here - http://melevsreef.com/id/whelk.html

 

[azrien]

Thanks LazyD, yes looks like a whelk but on Melev's site he says that the whelk never buries itself. By contrast, this guy is almost always under the sand, in one 2" diameter area. Never on the glass or rock.

He is in the main tank but netted and tied off. I couldn't bear to leave him in the cup overnight just in case he is a good guy.

 

[charlesr1958]

Going by the photo where you can see what looks like its eyes, it would not be a whelk, the eye location, size on the eye stalks are a good indication it is something else. Alot of snail types use the sand to hide within during the day, and their doing so or not, is not much help in identification purposes. It is though a very interesting specimen, and will see if I can locate some here in the sandbeds as I would like to add that to my collection. Thanks for sharing and hopefully someone can pin down an exact speices for you.

For future reference, I also have been putting together a hitch hiker ID section and since I have daily access to the reefs, I will be adding to it on a very frequent basis.

Hitch Hikers

Chuck

 

[azrien]

Thanks Chuck, if you want to use my photos on your Hitchhiker site then by all means go for it. Maybe it's a whelk, maybe not, but I still have it netted off in the main tank so it can live, albeit caged up.

Looking at your site's pictures, I think it is a whelk even though the shell just doesn't seem quite right, though it could be because my snail is still very small. You have a great ID site going, insta-bookmark! Great photos as well. I do respectfully request the automatic browser maximization be turned off. I had to resize my window every single time I clicked on something.

 

[azrien]

Should this guy end up being a whelk, is there a way to tell if it's a whelk that'll eat everything or a "safe" whelk, if there are any? Do people want whelks? I'd hate to kill this neat looking guy just because it may feast on something in the future.

For the record, it hasn't so much as even tried to move in the same direction as my snails. Doesn't seem to want to do anything but sift in the substrate.

 

[charlesr1958]

Auto resize is being removed right after I hit the submit reply button, thanks for the heads up on that and also the permissions, will dig a bit deeper and see if I can get you an ID on that.

Chuck

 

[azrien]

Awesome.

Well I cleaned out the reef tank and I had to put aside the net the little guy was in.... and forgot to put him back until hours later! I frantically put him into a cup of tank water and he came out of his shell and started wandering about like nothing happened. Resilient little sucker. I decided to put him into the skimmer (skilter) just to give him some room to crawl and things to eat but I think he found his way back into the tank. I'm not too worried, he did reside in there long enough without harming anything, so I'll just keep an eye on things. If he eats something bad, I'll note it here. Otherwise I suppose my tank is now an experiment in determining what exactly this snail is/does.

 

[charlesr1958]

I have spent hours trying to look up that species with no luck yet, Do you see it scraping or feeding on the surfaces of what ever it is in? If you want a quick answer, might I suggest you post those photos over at marinedepot's forum within Dr. Ron's invert forum, if anyone can ID this snail, it would be him.

Chuck

 

[azrien]

I'll do that, thanks. I have never seen it scrape ANYTHING, just burrow in the substrate. I appreciate your efforts!

 

[azrien]

Haven't gotten a chance to post over there yet, but I do have a photo of it actually on the glass. Maybe we can figure it out by its foot? *edit, I posted over there, hopefully I can get some answers!*

 

[azrien]

Here are a few more images, courtesy of the scanner. The bloody snail refused to stay retracted for long! The final, large one is a digital enlargement of the first photo just to better display the aperture's features.

 

[charlesr1958]

I spent another hour or two today trying to find this species and came up empty yet again, Which is kind of frustrating since I am usualy fairly good at getting into at least a genus level with snails. Am probably just as curious as to its species as you are now...lol

Chuck

 

[azrien]

The gentleman you referred me to seems to believe it's a sort of cerithid. I did a google image search and yes, it's certainly possible. I will keep you posted on any positive IDs!

In addition to the snail, I also found a purple crab (recently found his cave as well) and a very strange creature that I will make another post about. This new one I cannot even begin to describe beyond that it looks like a trilobite covered in coralline. No shortage of exciting things in reef, I'll tell you that!

EDIT: Yes, cerithid, species very much unknown, however! He now has a home in my tank and I hope to add him some buddies in the near future.