What Kind Of Snail Is This?????

Does anyone know what kind of snail this is? I can't find it anywhere one the net.

 

ha ha , thats a clown fish not a snail

 

It looks almost like a kind of limpet to me. Do you have more pictures? Oh, and the second picture is a clownfish

 

I just threw in the picture of the clown. I belive you are right about the snail being a limpet but I could not find one that color. I will post more pics.

 

More Pics Of The Snail

Here are more pics of the snail.

 

Yup, looks like a little red limpet. I believe almost all limpets are herbivores, using their radula to eat up film algae. Awesome hitch hiker!

 

Super cool!! I like it. Its a little creepy looking. I name everything in my tank. I say "Darth Maul" LOL!!

 

It's actually a Fleshy Limpet, a Lucapina or Lucapinella species. Some people consider them to be unsuitable for reef tanks, some people think they are great, and some just advise caution. They do sometimes graze on soft corals, although it seems that's not a major component of their diet. Dr. Shimek says:

"Fleshy limpets, Lucapina species, are commonly found on Caribbean rock, and there are several species of them. The largest are about the size of shield limpets, but many are smaller. They also have a mantle that extends up over the shell, but in this case, the mantle is brightly colored and ranges from yellow to red. These are keyhole limpets, and as such are probably omnivorous, but from the reports I have received, they don't seem to be eating the decorative livestock. Generally, they seem to be grazing on algae. Like the shield limpets, they are largely nocturnal and are generally out of sight and inactive during the day. When the mantle is retracted, they will be seen to have a small shell on their back and its center will be perforated with a hole. As with the shield limpets, they don't appear to reproduce in aquaria and generally only survive a few months."

The Grazing Snails, Part II - Abalones, Limpets and Nerites by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

There is a pic of one with a red mantle near the top of this page (not sure if the entire link will work, or if you'll have to copy and paste it):

LimpetScutusF

Cheers,



Don

 

I have one in my tank, it will be one year on Feb 14! I posted pics of it here. I don't see him as much as I used to and he has never eaten anything but alage.

 

Thanks pagojoe for the detailed info. I will probably keep an eye on him before I pull him out of the tank.