Large Killer Snail?

[Sherri]

Yesterday was a very interesting day! In the last few weeks I have replaced some softies with new cured rock, added astreas & blue legs...well, yesterday I noticed this HUGE snail (3"-4") that I had not noticed before that had one of the astreas up against the front of him. I tried to pry the astrea from him - no letting go & I couldn't pry the big snail from the rock. I was on my way out the door at the time for an appointment & didn't have the time to do anything about it right then. Well, When I got home, he had lodged himself into a crevice in the rock near the top of the rocks & I couldn't budge him. Kept an eye on him thru the evening. Night lights came on, he had moved to the top of the rocks, wedges in & this "probe" came out at the same spot where he earlier had the astrea...I'm thinking wow...what if he zaps one of my clowns that were hanging out right there. This guy is now sitting ON TOP of my rocks...when the lights went out for the evening - he immediately started booking down the back of the rocks so fast that by the time I had washed my hands & put a glove on - he was gone. A "few minutes later" & I mean just a few minutes, there he is going up the back glass toward a group of astrea snails. He approachs one of the astreas, a tube came out from the front of the snail, turn the astrea around & POP!! zapped the astrea & brought the shell to it's "mouth" I guess....this happened on the glass...this is happening while hubby is holding a flashlight and I'm trying to put on gloves. He was on a mission & knew exactly where he was headed. Very aggressive! I managed to pry it off the glass - astrea & all...

I put him in my little 2 gal which I'm in the process of breaking down. Prob not the greatest conditions, but..........the way he was booking, I was afraid he'd climb out of my fuge if I put him down there. I think he came in on some of my new rock. The shell he's in looks more like a conch shell the same color of the rock. He was prob wedged in without being noticed when I put the rock in...

Surely this couldn't be a cone snail??? I know there are a lot of varieties of cone, but the shell is nothing like those smooth & colorful shells...

Any remarks??? :whew::eek:

[C.Mydas]

Aren't cone snails dangerous? Be very careful when you handle it. I have no idea, sounds like an interesting evening though.

[JimD]

Not only dangerous but deadly in the range of the blue ring octopus. I wouldnt recommend handling it with your hands, if it is a cone snail, itl only take one deadly injection and youre history! Do a Google image search and see if theres anything there that looks familiar.

[rz1a]

is it a whelk?

[Sherri]

Not only dangerous but deadly in the range of the blue ring octopus. I wouldnt recommend handling it with your hands, if it is a cone snail, itl only take one deadly injection and youre history! Do a Google image search and see if theres anything there that looks familiar.

Jim...I did a Google search last night before handling it at all...the only confusion on my part was the shell...there are over 500 species of cone snails...but it looked like all were very colorful smooth shells...this one looks like a regular conch type shell...but the snail itself has the characteristics of a cone...

I made sure I had gloves on when I grabbed it - plus he had the snail pulled up to his "probe opening" - still gave me the heebee jeebies! :eek:

[Sherri]

is it a whelk?

I looked up the whelk snail....it has a head & antennas....this guy of mine doesn't...just the long protruding probe.

[Sherri]

http://njscuba.net/biology/sw_snails.html

Scroll down about 3 or so images...It may be a Waved Whelk Buccinum undatum

[chuck4824]

If you can get a picture the Conchologist of America are meeting here in SA for their national meeting in July, just a little plug there. If you get a picture my mom can probably ID it for you, she has a stinky room full of them all ID'd and stored in little drawers and boxes.

David

[johnmaloney @ Reef Cleaners]

If it is an Atlantic Snail and you have picture, I am confident I can figure out what it is. Be careful though in the mean time, prior advice about Cone Snails is absolutely correct, some of the Pacific varieties can kill you. Some of the larger whelks shout out mucous, (a LOT of it), when they are picked up, did you notice this? The harpoon, or probe, is pretty common on predatory snails, the lettered olive for example has one. There are so many types of snails a picture is pretty much necessary.

If you don't have a pic, here is a tip on snail identification I hope you can find useful in your search:

Don't rule out a family of snails if a picture of one snail in that family doesn't match up. The whelk family for example is extremely diverse, from snails that are larger than your hand and shout out mucous, to the nassarius vibex many of us have. The best thing to do is to try to find the family of the snail you have, by looking at the shape of its shell. Then find which family has that shape characteristic. Then look up the members of the family. Of course, there are many look a likes families. Some empty moon shells, kind of resemble members of the nerite family for example. (although the live ones probably couldn't be confused).

If it is not Atlantic, ask Chuck from Chuck's Addiction, I am sure he wouldn't mind, and he is great at it.

[johnmaloney @ Reef Cleaners]

Let see that snail!

By the way, you must be careful even with gloves, those harpoons on the cones are designed to pierce shell, it can pierce most gloves. This is definitely one of those strange times in our hobby, I mean did you ever think you would be timid around a snail? lol...

[Sherri]

The snail is no longer with us...The 2 gal nano I put him in was in the process of being broken down...so I'm sure the water quality didn't help. He did slime up as stated, so I thought he was doing that out of defense...but I found him dead today. I was scared to put him in my fuge of my 180....and I didn't want to handle him again. :hypnotyized:

[johnmaloney @ Reef Cleaners]

If he slimed up it was probably one of the larger whelks. Oh well, I always try to get some use out of the field guides when I get the chance.

[Sherri]

Yeah...he really slimed up...I do believe he was a whelk...thinking that...I thought he was still alive - then nothing...

thanks for the help in ID'ing him...very helpful info and quite an experience!