Something WEIRD about this Turbo snail

[Oldsalt01]

I recently picked up 3 Turbos to assist with tank (algae) cleanup in my 14g Biocube. The day after i put them in I noticed one of them has what appear to be 8-10 white tentacles sticking out around the base of the shell while it's moving along. They almost look like a small nem, but they stick out evenly all the way around. Now I know that Turbo's only have two feelers or eye stalks (mine are black) so I'm wondering what these things are. I've attached some fotos. Sorry for the poor quality, but bottom image shows these things the best. I've also noted 2 somethings, tapered segmented bumps that look like the snail shell, attached to the outside of the shell (on the top image, on the left, the bright white specks about 1/2 way up the shell) that frequently have what looks like another white tentacle sticking out of them. Sometimes they retract into the bump. Parasite???

 

[Lionfish Lair]

The multiple tentacles belong to him. The other is probably a vermetid.

That looks like a trochus to me.... the snail itself.

 

[Oldsalt01]

Yah. I've already been taken to task on another forum for mis-identification of said gastropod. I guess what confused me was the fact that the other 2 trochus don't show multiple tentacles (I'll probably be chastised for calling them that, too). Thanks for the input. I'm going to go look up vermetid now. I've heard of them before but don't recall what they are or do. Thanks for your input.

 

[Oldsalt01]

OK. Read up on vermetids. RELIEF! It also explains the "hair" I saw hanging off the trochus last night. Thanks LL!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

(I'll probably be chastised for calling them that, too).

No, my friend, as you have labelled them correctly. They are sensory epipodial tentacles.

 

[Oldsalt01]

Yah, what I said.

 

[Yuumi's Reef]

I feel like ive just found an old UFO photo that no one is talking about. I have never seen a trochus snail do that. Makes the snail look more like a scallop. New fear unlocked: the posibility of a parasitic scallop taking over snails and using their body like a zombie shell. gotta love the ocean. I worked at a fish store fragging corals and cleaning off parasites of snails (so I've seen hundreds of trochus snails) but Ive never seen anything that would explain those bottom tentacles. Vermetid snails always make a calcified tube on the outside like in the first picture. But the way that they are poking out the bottom so evenly spaced and all the same length kinda freaks me out. If this is something that Trochus snails just DO, then you my friend have one of the only 2 photos on the internet that show them doing this. And its apparently very rare for them to do that, since Ive NEVER seen that happen in the 2 years Ive worked at a saltwater store. Shocked me enough to write this long comment on a post from over 5 years ago. Glad to see the internet hasn't changed though. After reading those other useless comments, Im laughing so hard because they still just criticized you, and didnt answer your question. You found the answer on your own, all those years ago. It's part of the snail.

 

[Nikio318107]