Friend or Foe?? ID Help Please

[Amoore311]

A guy in my local club bought one of these as a "Giant Nassarius" at the LFS. Not sure if it's a predatory whelk or not...


http://www.genegs.com/files/Tank_9_9_07/Giant_Nassarius_Snail__Nassarius_sp._.jpg

[Sugar Magnolia]

Nope, harmless tongan nassarius snail.

[graveyardworm]

I dont recall Tonga Nassarius having an operculum. I could be wrong but I'm thinking this guy is a predatory type whelk. Either way I and others have found the Tonga Nassarius to be a predator not just a scavenger. It will scavenge if enough food is present but when it gets hungry and nothing else is readily available it will dine on what it finds living or dead.

[RokleM]

Whelk.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1228376

[Sugar Magnolia]

Well then I stand corrected and apologize for the incorrect info. Good call you guys. ;)

David, I wasn't aware of the predatory behavior of tongan nass snails. I've had 5 of them in my 30 cube for a couple of years now and have never seen this. What specifically have you seen them do? I'm very curious.

[graveyardworm]

They will attack and eat other snails including eachother. I havent actually witnessed this myself cause it porobably happens when I'm not looking but I also believe they will clean the life out of a sand bed. Again though not something I have witnessed but I dont have anything else to point fingers at in the tank in question.

[graveyardworm]

A quick search brought up some hits. I didnt go to the archives though.

This was one I remembered. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1108833&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

There was atleast one which contained a video of 2 attacking eachother but I cant find it. It's possible too that the video is no longer there it was awhile ago.

[J. Montgomery]

I posted a picture of a "Nassarius" that I thought was a whelk. It had an operculum. Pagojoe (sp?) told me it was a Nassarius and probably the second most imported species :lol:
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t133/baronpsjosh/MysterySnail.jpg

[pagojoe]

Yup, as David said, it's a Babylonia, in this case Babylonia spirata. They mostly scavenge, but there have been a bunch of cases of people witnessing them attacking clams or other snails and killing them. There were at least two video clips on the net of them attacking and killing snails, but they might have disappeared into net purgatory. They were considered to be true whelks for a long time, but most recent taxonomy places them in their own family, although still in the same superfamily with the true whelks.

Josh's snail is the real Nassarius distortus, although a bunch of species are sold under that name. Looks like it's just cleaning the remains off a Turbo operculum in that pic. Probably didn't kill it, but I don't know where this species fits on the "aggressiveness" scale. Unlike most of the other Nassarius species in the hobby, this one is usually found in super white compacted sand under rocks in the shallow subtidal to scuba depths, and I've never observed its behavior. The areas where they're found usually appear to be almost sterile, with little other than sand-dwelling crabs, Harpa snails, and sometimes Nassarius papillosus found in the same habitat. Doesn't look like there's much to eat there, so I don't know what their natural niche is in the community.

Cheers,




Don

[Nabihah.k]

Where did you purchase your Nassarius from? I'm looking for Nassarius papilosus, any ideas?

[iamwhatiam52]

OOPS! I have two of these in a small tank and now that you mention it the snail population is dwindling!

Off they go to my Bad Hitchhiker tank.

Thought they were Nassarius relatives from the way they bury in the sand with their siphons up and come charging out at feeding time.

Thanks for pointing out that Nassarius do not have operculums.

Darn shame too, they are very active, interesting and beautiful snails. They sell something very similar in the asian markets here. I'll post a pic next time we do some shopping there.

[pagojoe]

I've seen pics of a couple of N. papillosus in reef tanks. I don't know who sells them, though. I do know were to collect them if you are a scuba diver and frequent the central-west Pacific...

By the way Iam, Nassarius also have opercs, but they are small and translucent with a darker center, not the thick, leathery opercs like Babylonia.

Cheers,



Don

[iamwhatiam52]

By the way Iam, Nassarius also have opercs, but they are small and translucent with a darker center, not the thick, leathery opercs like Babylonia.

Cheers,

Don

Just saw the the operc on one of mine. Pitiful little thing. Not much bigger than the head of a pin.