dadonoflaw
New member
i have a snail that i didnt purchase in my tank and it doesnt look like a nassarius exactly. it has a black shell and a trunk like a nassarius but the trunk looks jagged. sorry no pic. i took it out so i could find out
whelk or nassarius snail
- Thread starter dadonoflaw
- Start date
pagojoe
Team RC
It's probably Ilyanassa obsoleta. If it's not, the only ones I can think of that look similar and are black are Planaxis or Supplanaxis species.
http://www.gastropods.com/5/Shell_3305.html
http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_1828.html
Cheers,
Don
http://www.gastropods.com/5/Shell_3305.html
http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_1828.html
Cheers,
Don
dadonoflaw
New member
thanx. it looks like the first one. but with a black trunk. are they reef safe?
pagojoe
Team RC
Yes, but that's not a very dependable way to tell a "whelk" from a Nassarius or columbellid, or even the mostly-harmless Engina species, which include the so-called Bumblebee Snails. The people that use that association as an ID tool usually don't know much about snails. That info got published in the same way several other "how to ID" tips got published, which included a lot of extrapolation based on limited experience with a few species.
As for Ilyanassa obsoleta, you can search this forum for info and find more than I have time to type. Greenbean wrote an excellent article on the subject of these snails (reefkeeping mag, I believe), which you should be able to find quickly when you search for info on this species. Gist: they aren't great choices for aquaria, though it probably wouldn't be worth your time to take things apart trying to get them out of your tank...they probably won't last too long, anyway. They won't eat corals or predate on your other animals.
Cheers,
Don
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