Unidentified hitchhiker?

Hi there, I was wondering if one of you can identify my hitchhiker? He has been in my nano reef since day 1 and does the best job at clean up, but I don't know what he is?

Thank you in advance!

 

looks like some sort of Cerith to me, but I would wait for pagojoe to correctly identify him, he is hand's down 3reef's best invert identifier.

 

Florida cerith is my guess.

 

This is a tough one, and you'd probably have to remove it and take some pics in a dish of water to get it positively identified. You would need an apertural view, with the animal withdrawn, most likely. The problem with this particular snail is that there are snails in several different families that may look very similar. The rounded ribs, distinct lines, and tall spire scream I'M A FASCIOLARIID, but the animal should be red if it were in that family (it's not) and it should have a longer siphonal canal (it doesn't). So, depending on what the aperture looks like, and the animal to some extent, it could be one of the species below, or some other species that I haven't compared, since I'm out of town and trying to ID it without any references other than the internet.

It actually could be a cerith as PharmrJohn suggested, or a related species in the same superfamily. If it is, I don't think it's a Florida Cerith. Clypeomorus irroratus can look similar, but the pattern and ribs usually aren't so well defined:

Clypeomorus irroratus

If it's this species, it should have a hideous-looking animal Another species in a related family that you might consider is Terebralia semistriata. Again, the ribs on your snail are more defined than is typical for T. semistriata, but yours might be a juvenile. That could account for the stronger ribs, and for the lack of an expanded lip on the final whorl:

Terebralia semistriata

Some nassariids may look similar to yours, too, but if yours is grazing, it shouldn't be this:

Nassarius (Nassarius) mendicus

My initial impression, after deciding it wasn't a Tulip, was that it was a buccinid, even though a buccinid shouldn't graze, either. There are more similar species in the Buccinidae than any other family, and that would be my guess, pending apertural photos. It may be hunting rather than grazing, who knows. Here's a somewhat similar buccinid, Phos crassus. I really doubt it's that species, but it may be a related species in the same family:

Phos (Phos) crassus clarki

If you want to take some additional photos, preferably spire up, looking straight into the aperture after you poke the animal to make it withdraw into the shell, I'll try to give you a more positive ID after I get home to my references.

Cheers,




Don

 

Thanks for all the great info Pagojoe.. I will try taking some additional photos..I do know for a fact it eats algae, I have watched it clean the rock thoroughly, if that helps you at all..whatever he is, hes the best cleaning snail I have, my ceriths seem pretty lazy compared to him..lol

Thanks again for your help!

 

Good, lol. If it eats algae for sure, that narrows the possibilities considerably. About the only similarly-shaped snails that are algae eaters are at least in the same superfamily with the ceriths.

Cheers,



Don