Whelk, who might you be?

[Brit’s Fish]

I’ve been seeing this shell around my tank for months & I always thought it was home to a small hermit crab or just uninhabited. Today, I saw it on the glass for the first time.
I know that whelks tend to bother corals but since it took me months to even know something was living in this shell, I know it’s not bothering anything. I stare at this tank more often than I should. Lol
Any thoughts on what this guy is? He’s pretty and I’m really hoping he’s not anything bad but if he is, I can always move him.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Bump... anybody know if this is just a harmless snail?

 

[Mastiffsrule]

hi,

Does not look like a whelk. Usually look for a long snout as the first clue. Not sure exactly what snail it is though. Maybe someone else will know

 

[Vette67]

Looks like a strombus to me... I have literally hundreds of them in my tanks. They are prolific breeders.

Strombus snail | Melev's Reef

This tiny grazer - Strombus maculatus - is a really nice choice for part of the clean up crew. Stombus snails are very active, cleaning the glass and rockwork all day long. They are rather small, no longer than a maximum half an inch in length, and often breed in our aquariums. Without...

www.melevsreef.com

 

[Topekoms]

Def not a strombus. I would say that it is a whelk I would remove it to the sump

 

[Mastiffsrule]

We may need a tie breaker.

#reefsquad

 

[Vette67]

Def not a strombus. I would say that it is a whelk I would remove it to the sump

You could be right. I just looked at my strombus snails when I saw your comment, and mine do have more of a smooth shell, like the ones on the Melevs example. Sorry, OP. I might be wrong... that fluted shell might be something other than a strombus.

 

[jsker]

Out of my league ;Hilarious

 

[P-Dub]

Dicathais (White Rock) Eastern OZ.

Humble Australian sea snail may hold key to curing cancer – QUT News

I'm dubious the photo is of the snail they are referring to and it may just be a stock photo but I was unable to find a proper description for any other snail...
Supposedly predatory, but...
That's my offering...

 

[king aiptasia]

if it was a coral eater he'd have caused chaos at this point

 

[N.Sreefer]

Looks like a species of dog whelk

 

[Sharlow]

About a dozen of these ended up in my LFS invert displays, and they breeded like crazy but never went after anyone. I took home three for my pest tank, and for the couple months I had them they didn't bother coral or snails. I think we'd decided they were a type of Dove snail. I'll go through old notes and see if I can find the snail.

 

[N.Sreefer]

The shell structure matches a frilled dogwinkle or another species of dog whelk.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

hi,

Does not look like a whelk. Usually look for a long snout as the first clue. Not sure exactly what snail it is though. Maybe someone else will know

It does have a small, but completely white “snorkel” like a nassarius snail. It’s very short though.

 

[1guydude]

It appears to be a small whelk or periwinkle.
D

 

[1guydude]

Deff not a periwinkle. Idk why i said that. Lol.
D

 

[vic5hands]

Had a major infestation of Whelk snails . You do not want them get them out . Ate a majority of my corals. Had to dump the entire tank and start over.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not a whelk. Two traits to identify a whelk is a little flap at its’ rare and mainly, it’s snout has a pattern in it as if it has been tattooed. This snail more resembles a nassarius.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Not a whelk. Two traits to identify a whelk is a little flap at its’ rare and mainly, it’s snout has a pattern in it as if it has been tattooed. This snail more resembles a nassarius.

Yeah, the more I read this thread and research, I don’t think this is a whelk anymore. Melev’s reef mentioned those two features as well, which he doesn’t have. Somewhere else mentioned the dark shells which are definitely in the list poster’s pic but my guy has a pretty light shell. He’s actually a really pretty, bright white all over his body/foot. I’m going to keep an eye on him for now. As I mentioned, I didn’t even know it was alive until today lol. He climbed the glass right after I did a water change & actually moved pretty quickly like a nassarius. If he starts bothering my corals, into the sump he goes!

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Thank you to everyone for your comments!! ;Cat He disappeared back into the “depths” of the Evo before we could positively ID him but I hope I’ll see him again. Hopefully not while he’s messing with a coral!