snail (Welk? Conch?) Id please

[danch]

Got this guy at a local fish store. I think they probably gave me the 'Turbo' price for him, but he's obviously not Turbo sp., nor the Trochus sp. that stores around here call turbos. From the guy's shell, I thought he might be a conch, but when he poked his snout out, I thought it was more welky. Opinions?

TIA!

 

[cloak]

I'd say a whelk. Not really sure though. Give it a couple weeks and see if your snail numbers are off.
This one made short work of some of the snails I had.

Check this out.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-11/rs/index.php

 

[danch]

Yep, was just reading that. The more I learn, the more I think 'Welk' - my initial reaction when I saw his syphon. He's in my quarantine tank right now. I've tried to feed him a re-hydrated krill tail, but he didn't go for it. Maybe I'll try to get some clam or something and see if he goes after that.

Being in a snail tank at the LFS, I think he's had time to build up some reserves! While they were hunting for 'Turbos' for me, the employees kept commenting on the number of empty shells they were seeing...

 

[pagojoe]

It's not exactly a whelk, but it's in the same superfamily. It's actually in the family with the Tulip Snails and Horse Conchs, and will be a predatory species. It might be a Latirus species, but I think it's a gerontic-looking variant of Leucozonia ocellata.

http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_1938.html

Cloak's snail isn't exactly a whelk either. It's a fine example of the murex Ergalatax margariticola.

http://www.gastropods.com/1/Shell_1131.html

Cheers,



Don