Cali Kid Corals

Strange new critter(s)

GDawson

GDawson

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Not sure if this is a bad one or not…..sorry no pic. It’s very hard to photo.

Picture a grey white slug (more flat than torpedo shaped) mebbie 1” long with a small oval darkish grey shell on its back. The shell can only cover about a ¼ of its back. I was able to pull one out and the shell pulled off first. It almost looked like the shell was a separate critter with a muscular foot that was attached to the slug. There didn’t appear to be any damage to either piece. I was then able to pull the slug out. That was weeks ago. Tonight there was another one on the rocks with the same shell on the back arrangement. Very strange.

-Gregory
 
Was able to ID (gotta love the web...) it is a Stomatella snail. Supposedly reef safe and a good thing for micro algea control....

-Gregory
 
They also are broadcast breeders and good to have because they occasionally feed the tank.

My fungia like to eat them whole and spit out the shell. :(
 
GDawson said:
Was able to ID (gotta love the web...) it is a Stomatella snail. Supposedly reef safe and a good thing for micro algea control....

-Gregory
Click to expand...

No supposedly about it. They are a fine reef safe animal that will breed in your tank and eat algae.

They drop their tails like lizards when you catch them usually :(
 
Well a snail freak would think they're cute, but yah, they wouldn't win any cute pet awards :)

They make a great addition to the fragswap free table :D
 
I am did just call you a freak :)

I don't think they are cute, but I do find them interesting :D
 
I've watched my fungia eat several of these if they get too close. Spits the shell out the next day. Also I just realized I'm repeating myself. I also just realized I'm repeating myself.

They do have an attractive relative:

http://www.google.com/m/search?site=images&source=mog&hl=en&gl=us&client=safari&q=haminoea%20cymbalum

http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/hamicymb

Someone should import these guys. :)
 
I seem to have 3 distinct stomatella species in my tank, one is grayish with a whitish gray shell, the second also has a whitish shell but a vivid yellow body almost as bright as a tang. The last species has a opalescent shell and a plain grayish body. The opalescent shell is rather nice. I would not mind more of this variety. I've looked at the various stomatella identification pages and not seen either the yellow variety or the opalescent variety. Anyone else seen these?
 
Have you seen this link?

http://bb.wetwebmedia.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=181

According to the link, there's a lot of variation within a single species so they might all be the same. The article identifies at least three species that are all similar yet can vary quite a bit. It might not be so easy to tell the species apart if that is the case in your tank, so it just might be safe to call it Stomatella without a specific species.
 
Gastropods can vary in color depending on diet, personally I have little experience with Stomatellas, I do have a bit of experience with Haliotis a close relative. In Haliotis you can create bands in the shell pattern depending on the feed in a very dramatic fashion, so it would not surprise me if different Stomatellas have different preferences in algae creating different shell colors and body colors. Also, older gastropods produce gametes at which point their growth slows to a snails pace (sorry I had to throw in a really, really bad pun. Isaac Asimov once said that puns were the only jokes human's could create and that all jokes came from outerspace, but I digress....), so in theory you could have different Stoamatellas that developed during separate, different algae blooms over the course of a full cycle.
 
Jeremy deserves an award for Asimov reference! Between Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, "Doc" Smith, Tolkien, Martin, Sterling, among other, I managed to not really live in the real world since I could read. :)
 
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