Orange Snail ID Help Please

[NewReefNut]

What a wonderful forum I've stumbled upon as I have started up on this new hobby. I've spent way to many hours up late reading in the last 3 weeks. Yes, you can assume my tenk is less then 3 weeks old. I actually started it on the 23rd of Feb.

 

I won't go into the details of my new quest here but will add a "diary" type post to the Nano forum. I do however need some help to understand this orange snail that has emereged from my live rock. I have seen at least 2 at a time, potentially 4 of them due to location, but never all 4 at once.

 

The snail appears to have no distinguishable hard shell, it has a dark read spot on it's back with a smaller white spot in the center of that red one. It can be seen emerging from the live rock and is located just left and above center in these linked photo's.

 

Orange Snail Gif <-- lower rez

 

Orange Snail JPG <-- High rez

 

If anyone can comment as to if these are reef safe I would appreciate it. If not, then I need to devise a way to suck em out when I see em.

 

Thanks much in advance for your insight.

 

NRN

[Gili]

Hello.

 

Its hard to say, the pics are a little hazy but a good place for reference is:

 

wetwebmedia.com

 

they have pictures you can compare to yours for a positive or close id.

 

good luck

[jenniebutterfly]

try looking up stomatella. i won't say it is a positive id though because the pictures are so blurry. but stomatellas come in many colors, so it could be

[RayWhisperer]

Welcome to N-R.com.

It sure looks like it could be a stomatella snail, but as stated before, it's hard to tell from the pic's. If you look them up, and it is a stom, they are reef safe.

[NewReefNut]

Thanks for the help, I've tried to get a couple better pictures with the camera set to 5M.

 

Snail 1

 

Snail 2

 

The stomatella snail pics I have found seem to show a much more defined white shell then these critters in my tank. The shell on these almost blends in with the main body and has the pronounced red spot with a white dot on the hind quarter.

 

They do seem to be eating algea off the rock and not to be destructive yet. The hermits and emerald green crab seem to leave them alone. Last night I even spoted 2 more of them without the orange coloring, both the new ones appeared to be white / grey or almost albino in features. Strange.

[RayWhisperer]

Interesting color, it still looks like a stomatella to me. I have them in Grey, White, Black, Beige, and a few mixes of those colors, so I don't think there is any set rule for color varieties. The pic still seemed blurry. I'm not sure, either you need to re-size it, or stablize the camera when taking the pic. Either way, I still think it's a stomatella, so if it's not doing any harm, just enjoy them.

[blooper74]

Stomatella, I have several of them in my tank. They are a good thing.

[formerly icyuodd/icyoud2]

i'd have to agree they look like stomatella snails, although i've never seen them with red and white markings.

 

cowrys are a type of snail that has a mantel that grows over the shell

http://www.divegallery.com/cowry_tiger.htm

 

many different shapes and colors. ya might want to check out cowrys, and nudibranches. it could be either

[c est ma]

Well, it turns out there are other species of Stomatella than just S. varia, and also other related genera in the same family. Here are some pictures of a few others (not all, by any means)--perhaps yours is some kind of Synaptocochlea?:

 

http://www.gastropods.com/Taxon_pages/TN_F...MATELLINAE.html

 

Pretty cool, whatever it is!

 

--Diane

[proraptor]

I have a jet black stoma in my tank and it looks awesome...

 

That pick is a stoma for sure