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FAQs about Marine Snail Identification 17

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Related FAQs: Snail ID 1, Snail ID 2, Snail ID 3, Snail ID 4, Snail ID 5, Snail ID 6, Snail ID 7, Snail ID 8, Snail ID 9, Snail ID 10, Snail ID 11, Snail ID 12, Snail ID 13, Snail ID 14, Snail ID 15, Snail ID 16, Snail ID 18, Snail ID 19, Snail ID 20, Snail ID 21, Snail ID 22, Snail ID 23, Snail ID 24, Snail ID 25, Snail ID 26, & Marine Snails 1Marine Snails 2Marine Snails 3, Invertebrate ID, Snail Behavior, Snail Selection, Snail Compatibility, Snail Systems, Snail Feeding, Snail Disease, Snail Reproduction, MollusksSea SlugsAbalone

Please help identify this critter... Snails   10/8/08 Hello crew! I was wondering if someone might have a look at these photos to identify these snails. My LFS told me that it was unrecognizable <?> and that I should try to remove them... they are multiplying like crazy! They really only come out after the halides turn off and vary in size. Most are grayish white, but some are black. They Jason <Look to me to be Trochids... look up the genus Stomatella... mostly beneficial... Can be "picked off" by some crustaceans, Labrids... Bob Fenner>

If I could bother you or one of the other crew members with a snail and parasite, ID,  9/27/08 Thanks, Bob!!! <Welcome> If I could bother you or one of the other crew members with a snail and parasite, ID, I'd appreciate it. I have gone through all the snail ID pictures and descriptions on all the 17 plus pages and of course, like most people, no one has a snail "just like mine". I had it narrowed down to the three most common ones people ask to have ID'd, Nerite, Collonista and baby Turbo, but I went through that site you have linked that shows all of the shells of those and I could find a few that were similar, but, of course, none "just like mine". They are primarily nocturnal but do appear during the day. I find them every where. On the glass. On the rocks. And on the corals, especially Zoas and leathers. I've even found some under the microscope in water samples that I couldn't see with the naked eye. It does have a pattern similar to a sundial but it has a smooth shell and doesn't have the pagoda shaped operculum. They also appear to have calcareous egg shells on the rocks but they are not round or sesame seed shaped, they are more like a pentagon. <I don't see these in my ref. works either. Am sending your query to friend and "shell nut" Marty Beals of Tideline for his input> The parasites I got off of a small piece of Acropora and Kenya Tree that I was given by a friend that I had in quarantine. <Mmm, don't consider these parasites... other than "space"... perhaps predators... Am pretty sure these are Ostracods> They were both fine for about 3 weeks and then the Acropora went in less than 3 days. It started losing tissue at the base and went right up to the tip. The Kenya Tree started throwing off it's own branches but is still doing okay in quarantine. Since the Acropora was already lost, I did a dip in Iodine and all that came off were these little critters. I dipped one of the branches of Kenya Tree and found the same thing. One picture is magnified at 40 times, the other is at 100 times. You can barely see the critter with the naked eye. It looks like a flea with shorter legs. Iodine dip doesn't seem to kill the critters. They were even alive after a day in RO/DI water. You know microscopes are addictive when you have a reef tank. <Ah yes> Once you think you've seen everything in your reef tank, you are sadly mistaken until you've seen it under a microscope. Thanks Everybody!!!!! <I don't think these small crustaceans were/are the root of the Cnidarians health issues. Bob Fenner>

Circles of Ribbon-Like Sand: Likely Egg Collar - 9/8/08 <Hi Gerry, Lynn here this morning.> Over the last couple of months these circles of ribbon-like sand appear in my tank. They appear in different locations each time. The last time they appeared was 3 weeks ago there were 2 of them. I removed them when they appeared and took these pictures. Today I have noticed a new one in my tank. Any idea what is making this? <They look very much like what's commonly called a sand or egg collar, a combination of mucus, sand grains, and eggs produced by snails in the family Naticidae (commonly known as Moon snails). Do you have any of these in your system? Here are some examples of these egg masses for comparison: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2288/2250226721_f350b8a92a_o.jpg http://jellyfishinthesea.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/img_4401.jpg http://www.manandmollusc.net/Mystery_shell_pages/mystery_shell_steve.html> Thanks, Gerry
<You're very welcome, Gerry. Take care, -Lynn>

Re: Circles of Ribbon-Like Sand: Likely Egg Collar - 9/9/08 <Hi Gerry> Yes, I believe that I have. <Mystery solved!> Thanks, you have been a great help. Gerry <You're very welcome Gerry, it was my pleasure. Take care, -Lynn>

Anemone identification -09/01/08 Hi there, In July this year I photographed this pair of anemones <Mmm, no, not anemones...> in about 30ft of water on a reef in North East Tobago. I have no idea of their identity. Can you help please. <They do look like Ovulids (Ovula sp.). Please scroll down and see the pics of Ovula ovum on this page: http://www.seaslugforum.net/showall.cfm?base=ovulids> thanks, Rob Jackson <Ovula ovum is my guess. Best, Sara M.> Re: Anemone identification - not anemones, Ovulids 09/01/08 P.S. Oh, I might also note that many Ovulids eat soft corals (so it might make sense that you find these on/eating a leather coral). :) Best, Sara M. Re: Anemone identification... Ovulid et al. input... -09/02/08 Indeed, I didn't want to say so, but I was thinking... how could this picture have been taken in the "South Caribbean?" It must have been taken elsewhere... either that or maybe there really are clownfish off the cost of Kona... j/k lol ;) -Sara M. <Heeee! May be! BobF>
Re: Anemone identification -Ovulids 09/02/08 Hi Sara, You have introduced me to a whole new world with Seaslugforum.net Thanks so much. <Oh yes, it's a fabulous site! You're most welcome :)> I am not a marine biologist, but dive a bit and it's great to find a new link so I can find my own answers. I have looked at lots of notes on Ovula Ovum and that's what is going on the photo title. Bill Rudman seems to say that these Ovulids are not common in the South Caribbean, so maybe he will be interested if I send him the details. <Yes. He might also be able to confirm the ID (or tell you if it's actually some other Ovula sp).> Thanks again, Rob Jackson (from UK) <De nada, Sara M. (from Cleveland, OH)> <<Ummm, methinks this pic got somehow mixed up with others... Neither the egg cowry, nor the soft coral (looks like a Sarcophyton) occur in the tropical West Atlantic... More like Indonesia, Malaysia, into the eastern Indian Ocean... Bob Fenner>>

Baby limpets? 8/31/08 Hi Crew! <Hello!> I need some help identifying some new occupants. I noticed the 3 of them last night on the return nozzle. I've attached a couple of pics. Just a few notes..about 6 weeks ago my limpets were doing their reproducing rituals..they do this a lot. The only thing new I've added is some red Gracilaria. Also recently I've seen white worms (about 1mm long) on the glass which I've never seen before. I did go through the snail ID and reproduction pages and it looks like they could be baby limpets but from what I've read in the past the possibility of that actually happening in an aquarium in very remote. Any help would be helpful..thank you! Jennifer <As for the worms, there are thousands, if not millions, of possibilities that it would take a live specimen and a specialist to identify. As for the picture, it does indeed appear that you have some young limpets- these little guys will commonly show up in home aquaria, and rarely get very large.> <Benjamin>
Re: Baby limpets? - 8/31/08
Thanks for the quick response, Benjamin. <No problem!> Sorry for the lack of info on the worms...I had read that snail eggs sometimes look like worms crawling on the glass so I just was following that logic. <Ahh, yes. I assume these are some sort of benthic invert, not spawn, and I by no means meant to criticize your description! I couldn't do better myself, really.> Do you think these baby limpets were a product of the spawning limpets? Why won't they get very big? <Well, if they are the product of larger limpets, then they may become quite large. As I can't say for sure what they are, this may be the case, but there are also some very small, usually white limpets that are common hitchhikers into aquaria.> Thanks again. Jennifer <No problem! Benjamin>

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