tulip snails??

[lorawalters13]

I recently purchased some nassarius from an online vendor located in the keys. I suspect I received tulip snails instead. The shells have an unusual shape which is what really caught my attention. They are small snails about 1/2" long. The shell is off white with brown spiral stripes. The foot is white and a probiscus is present. As far as I can tell they prefer to cruise the LR and glass. I can try to get a picture but I don't have a very good camera and I'm not sure how much detail I can get.

Can anyone tell me a sure fire way to distinguish between tulip snails and nassarius snails?

Thanks in advance

 

[pagojoe]

I'm pretty good at ID'ing snails that I know, even from crappy pics, so go ahead and try. I never saw a tulip with a white foot, though. It's hard to tell you how you can tell them apart, they don't look much alike. The tulips have a fairly long siphonal canal, and Nassarius have almost no siphonal canal at all (the "stem" of the shell, at the end opposite the shell apex).

Cheers,


Don

 

[lorawalters13]

I wasn't kidding about crappy pics. lol I hope you can see enough detail to get an idea on these. They look completely different from any nassarius that I have seen before. Details don't come through in these photos, but the opening in the shell has grooves along it similar to a cowrie. The foot of the snails seems narrow and doesn't spread past the width of the shell when they are out.

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[pagojoe]

That's good enough for a family-level ID, ha. They are columbellids, or at least the one on the right is, and I think they both are. Some of the snails in this family are sold as "Strombus Grazers," and actually eat algae along with the microorganisms they graze up. Others in the family may eat other things, possibly even things you'd object to. However, if they look like they are grazing along, they are probably the good guys. They aren't Nassarius, in any case!

http://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Columbellidae/Pages/Columbellidae_intro.htm

http://www.gastropods.com/4/Shell_3124.html

http://www.gastropods.com/3/Shell_423.html

http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_1298.html


Cheers,



Don

 

[lorawalters13]

That's what they are. Thanks for your help Don!