Some type of snail

[Hingeback]

Hi
Is possible for someone to identify this. A few days ago my zoa colony closed up which is highly unusual. Had it for 4 years and very rarely does it stay closed for more than a day.
I have just taken the rock out as I needed to rearrange some rocks and found this creature stuck to the back side of it

The snail was well attached and when I prised him off there was a patch of badly damaged polyps were he had been.
I would hazard a guess at a Stomatella snail but have never heard of the doing damage to corals.

Thanks in advance

 

[pagojoe]

You are right, it's a Stomatella. They are algae eaters, and extremely good hiders. It's likely that he was just hiding behind your zoa rock. His teeth are little ribbons of raspers, so it's possible that he was rasping on your polyps, but it's not very likely. It's more likely that something else was eating them, and the snail was eating algae that was growing in the area where the polyps had been.

Cheers,



Don

 

[Hingeback]

Thanks for the fast reply and help. very much appreciated.