Shelless Snail?

[DiscusZ]

One early morning (I gotup as my skimmer was making noise) on my glass looked to be what was a Snail with no Shell, it did not look like a Nudi, it moved pretty pass once I turned the lights on. It was a 1 inch long or so. Unfortunately my camera had a dead battery so I could not get a pic. It was a greyish/white color had 2 tenticles on its head

I have not seen it now in a week. I was going to post earlier but I was heading out of town the next morning.


Any ideas? I know it will be hard without a pick, it did not look destructive.


Jim

[Quinn]

Likely a Stomatella sp. They have a shell but it's beneath their flesh.

[monza]

I think I have those, kind of look more like a slug then a snail? I always thought their back looked hard but fleshy, now I know. Never squished one to find out, I've always guessed they are harmless.

Dave

[AJ_77]

They're great - I've had a couple of black ones. :cool:

[DiscusZ]

Too bad I did not get a pictiure of it, and too bad I have not seen it since..


Glad they are good...

[Delphinus]

Stomatella varia are harmless algae eaters who will reproduce in your tank. A total benefit to a tank IMO.

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/picture_pages/faq_stomatella.html

Only thing is they're fairly delicate and defenseless and will get munched/predated. You have to be very gentle with them - they'll also get ripped in half if you try to pick them up too roughly. So they tend to come out more at night when it's safe ("safer" might be the better term). When I had cleaner srhimps, they pretty much stripped the display tank of all Stomatella in there. Stupid shrimp.

[danny zubot]

I have a couple of Alan's black ones too! :biggrin: Good to kkep in the sump out of harm's way.

[reefhawk]

the black ones may be scutus. They are awesome algae grazers. Was one of the first organisms to appear in my tank from the live rock.

[DiscusZ]

That is exactly what I saw tony! Thanks for the Pic!


Jim