Is this a baby snail

Please tell me what you think this is. Thanks.

 

Looks like a baby Mexican Turbo Snail to me.

 

Sure looks like it!

 

could it be a sundial snail?

 

Thank you all. The thing is that I have 5 Margarita snails and a bunch of Cerith snails. And I know this is a baby alright and that it was not a hitchhiker, so could it be a Margarita snail? I think I have more than one.

 

Wow, NeighborTom has been studying her snails, lol. I'll be obsolete here in no time....

It certainly could be Collonista costulosa, or one of the closely-related species in the same genus. That species is supposed to be restricted to Japan, but sometimes that's because the literature only includes accounts from a specific area when the species' actual range is much larger. If it's a Collonista, it should have a small dent or hole in the middle of the operculum. If you make the snail withdraw and take a pic from the side with the opening, you should be able to tell for sure.

It might also be a trochid. There are a couple of Panamic species (eastern Pacific) that may look almost exactly like that. They won't have the Turbo-type operculum though, but will have a transparent amber disc for an operculum instead.

In either case, it's not a baby Margarita, but it will be a safe algae eater.

Cheers,



Don

 

LOL No, I didn't go to school for them. In fact, I'm not even sure you can really go to school to learn about snails, specifically. I do know most of the molluscan experts in the world, though, and the majority of them specialize in a single family or a few families. A couple specialize in all the families in a restricted geographic area, and there are a very few generalists who seem to know a tremendous amount about all things snaily. The main thing they have in common is that in addition to their professional interests, they also collect shells. A few are professors, a couple are museum curators, and the others range from medical doctors to wildlife biologists to airline pilots. Collecting literature doesn't hurt either, but you have to read it after you collect it to really become knowledgeable. There is no substitute for being in the water though, especially when it comes to identifying encrusted animals or shell fragments. After you've seen enough of them, and scraped the encrustations off to see what you found, you get pretty good at live critter ID (mostly because you are always looking for something new, and don't want to collect something you've already collected a dozen times). This only applies to areas where you dive, though, and snails from areas other than the Indo-Pacific and, to a lesser degree, the Caribbean, aren't nearly as easy (for me, at least). I can usually track them down since I have most of the literature, but it's tougher if you are having to read and compare snail pics that you don't really know well, and having to sort out their differences for the first time. Consequently, if something is from, say, Baja California or the Panamic Region of the Pacific, I probably won't recognize it immediately unless it's one of the large or most common species. I'm still learning though, so maybe one day I'll actually be able to get off work for one of those Sea of Cortez expeditions and fill in some of the knowledge gaps, lol.

Cheers,



Don

 

Thank you for the reply, but I am still not sure when these guys may have come from because I have not added anything in a long time. And they seem to be in different stages of growth. I have counted at least three with different sizes. I guess if they get bigger, we'll know more.

I also, have another question, sometimes I see these beautiful bright yellow shells dug up from my live sand by the hermit crabs most likely, my question is what these shells belong to, snails? Crabs? And whether I can purchase them live?

Thanks again.

 

Hmm, most of the small bright yellow shells that I see are bivalves. Do they look like little clams or scallops, or are they snails? If you can get a pic I could probably tell you what they are.



Don

 

Collonista+1
They were a hitch hiker in my live rock. Was told they breed like crazy. They are nocturnal so if you shine a flash light a few hours after you turn off your light you will probably see more.