Snail Hitchhikers?

[trev_jonez]

Hi,

There are at least 3 hitchhikers on this Astrea. They don't seem to be feeding of the host, but of the glass/rock, much the same as the host.

Are they baby astreas being cared for by the parent? Are they harmless hitchhikers, or are the some kind of pest/predator

cheers

Trev

(Apologies if you've seen this elsewhere too.)

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l167/Peculiar_Clown/Hitchhikers/HitchHiker_013.jpg

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l167/Peculiar_Clown/Hitchhikers/HitchHiker_016.jpg

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l167/Peculiar_Clown/Hitchhikers/HitchHiker_017.jpg

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l167/Peculiar_Clown/Hitchhikers/HitchHiker_024.jpg

[mastou]

I have had the same on a hermit crab shell once. It never seemed to do any harm just grassed (as you also noticed, on glass/rocks) I never found out exactly what it was and my hermit have since changed shell so it is probably dead by now.

/Magnus

[pagojoe]

It's probably a Hipponix snail, or one of the species in the family Hipponicidae, but there are a couple more possibilities. I don't particularly like them because they may drill holes in their host shells, whether live or crabbed, but they apparently don't really harm the host animal.

http://www.gastropods.com/Taxon_pages/TN_Family_HIPPONICIDAE.html

http://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Hipponicidae/Pages/Hipponicidae_intro.htm

Cheers,



Don

[trev_jonez]

Many thanks Don, looks like a probable candidate.