Help me ID this snail please :)

[anemonelover]

What is its name? What does it eat? It doesn't seem to eat algae all that much, and it moves rrreeeaaalllyyy slowly. It very rarely goes on the glass like a "normal" algae eating snail, and it has that big spike in its shell.

 

[wade1]

I haven't a clue, but someone else might....

Have you seen its reaction to adding meaty foods?

My next guess it is a type of predatory snail/whelk that feeds on bivalves or something of the sort.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Can you grab it and get a good pic of the foot? Also a better shot of the shell would be good.

I believe the spike thing indicates a type of whelk, but narrowing it down to what type will be tough without better pics.

 

[anemonelover]

It honestly doesn't seem to have much of a reaction to anything. Sometimes I think it's dead because it doesn't appear to move much for a few days at a time, and the foot/mantle doesn't protrude much from the shell.

He is easy enough to grab, so I will try to take a better picture. Hopefully he will stick he head out a bit for it :?

 

[anemonelover]

That's the best I could do. I left him upside down for 20 minutes and he was not about to come out and turn himself over.

 

[anemonelover]

No ideas, anyone? :?:

 

[Anonymous]

Opeatostoma pseudodon (Thorn Latirus).

mario

 

[ddold]

Thank you! After searching on that, you're absolutely correct. One thing I still can't seem to find online though, and that's anything about it's diet. It doesn't seem interested in the algae. Any ideas?

Thanks,
j

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you! After searching on that, you're absolutely correct. One thing I still can't seem to find online though, and that's anything about it's diet. It doesn't seem interested in the algae. Any ideas?

From what I recall it's a member of the Family: Fasciolaridae. These tend to be carnivorous feeding mainly on bi-valves (oysters). Try feeding it shreds of meaty foods such as shrimp, squid, eel, mussels, etc. I wouldn't worry about it harming fish.

mario