Help with two identifications

[Rjung1]

What type of snail is this? Might it be some kind of conch or whelk? Any opinions as to its suitability in my tank.



This small growth appeared on the skeleton of my hammer coral. Its about half the size of a dime in size.

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If these pics don't show up, can someone tell me how to post a pic. Thanks!

 

[esmithiii]

How to post a pic (for those who won't read the faq):

Step 1- Resize your image using photoshop, photopaint or a similar program so it is at most 600 pixels wide.
Step 2- upload the image to a site that will host it and allow linking it. www.picturelist.com is an example.
Step 3- make sure the filename does not have any spaces.
Step 4- in your post, type

Voila!

 

[Rjung1]

Thanks for the assistance; I did actually read the FAQ, but your specific directions are what I needed, including place to upload pics.

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[Dewman]

Where did you get the snail? I ask, because while I was in Texas, i picked up some snails I found on the rocks of a jetty. They looked a lot like the pic you posted.
Is the inside edge of the shell pink, or creme colored? Does it have a "trunk" or a syphon that protrudes from it's head? Does it sit on the glass in one place? Or does it move constantly?

The ones i caught were BAD NEWS. They were called Oyster Drills and they took out two of my mexican turbo's over the coures of about a week.
They have a long creme colored tube that they "sniff" with. They will find a potential meal, oyster, clam, snail, and attach. then they use their special juices to soften up the shell and "drill" into it, where they attack their prey from the inside. Nasty critters!!

If it's not one of those, then I would think it is some sort of whelk or conch... IMHO

 

[Dewman]

Look at these pictures. Does the shell look like this?

http://www.vims.edu/mollusc/research/ra ... vtlipd.htm

 

[Rjung1]

Thanks for the link to the pics. I do not think it is an oyster drill though. It is not pink inside and the syphon is black or at least splotched with black on white. Unfortunately, I don't know where its from but it has been in my tank since set up (about 3 months) and I have observed it for quite some time. It moves around the substrate and sometimes on the glass. It does not seem to climb on the rocks much. I don't know what it eats, but I have never seen it consuming another snail or anything for that matter. Occasionally, it burrows in the substrate burying itself and remains there for several days. My best guess from an audobon ID book is the crown conch, but it does not have the pointy spines coming off the crown that their picture shows.

 

[Rjung1]

I posted the same pics over at reef central. Seems pretty certain to be a crown conch from response there. Any thoughts on the growth on the hammer coral skeleton??

 

[Henry1]

Whether its an oyster drill, whelk or conch will not be my concern at this point in time. The hammer coral is.
I had the same snails that came with the hammer. Initially, I thought they are harmless hitchikers until one day I witness them devouring a head of the hammer. 8O

 

[Rjung1]

Well, Henry, any thoughts on what the growth on the hammer coral is then? The snail is not on the hammer coral.

 

[Henry1]

Rjung, I'm not quite sure where is the growth on the skeleton you're referring to. If you could draw an arrow on the image will be most helpful.