Is this A Lichen?

I bought this Turbo snail and at once noticed this flat, soft, organism on it's shell. After doing some research, I made a self conclusion that it Must be a lichen. So I've left it alone, being they are filter feeders. Can anyone back up my theory being I haven't ever seen a photo of a lichen.....

You almost miss it if you don't look close, but it's on the bottom right of the snail's shell.

 

Yes it's a parasitic limpet. It's attached, bored a hole through the shell of the snail and is now eating it's flesh.

Removing it will kill the snail.

Once it kills the snail it will find another to feed on.

 

Limpet, thank you for the spelling correction.....I always get closely spelled words mixed up.

But really, are you just screwing with me because everything I have read so far about limpets says they are harmless hitch hikers, you're the first to say they are harmful...

 

No not messing with you. I had one on a turbo about a year ago. There's a thread with pics about it somewhere in my archives. Took it off the snail and the snail croaked immediately. It even crawled out of it's shell.

 

Well, kinda. It's sometimes called a limpet, but it's not very closely related to either the true limpets or keyhole limpets, which also aren't closely related. Some of them do dissolve the host shell to make a more secure attachment point, and a few even feed on the wastes generated by the snail, or the body fluids. Some similar species just sit there and filter feed or collect detritus as the snail moves around, and aren't truly parasitic. They are committed to the host shell for life, and their own shells grow to conform to the shell of the host. If they get dislodged, they're goners, since they aren't going to find another host that will "fit" their shells, and they aren't very good at either crawling or attaching once they are adults. The holes they make in Turbos may eventually be problematic, since that part of the Turbo is unprotected once the hitchhiker dies or is removed. At the size of the snail in your pic, chances are that it hasn't eaten all the way through, so removal might not harm the Turbo.

Cheers,



Don

 

thanks, I'll take it back to the LFS and get another one. I even did a search on "Parasitic Limpets" still nothing coming up. It seems there is a lot of confusion about these little guys and whether or not they are harmful. I've seen snails eat each other, so it wouldn't surprise me to see a half shelled snail boring into another species.

 

pagojoe is the resident snail expert. If he said it, it's good info.

 

What if, after removing the limpet, you covered the hole with something like super glue? (just a crazy thought)

 

LOL thanks RM. I wouldn't worry about it 55g, Turbos can live a really long time with these things attached, even if they are the most damaging kind and have dissolved big holes in the shells...the Turbo is a lot more likely to die of something else in your reef tank than from the limpet.

Cheers,



Don

 

Removing the one I had killed the snail almost immediately when I pried it off.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/id/limpet-86202.html

So I don't think filling the hole would do any good.