Article South African Local Marine Snails

The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

At the reef expo 2013 I did a talk on local snails. It is covering just the most likely snails you could encounter while rock hopping or pool splashing.

The images are all courtesy of Sea Shells
But its difficult to navigate through thousands of snails found worldwide. Unless you already got a name.

Anyway, I will try and give short descriptions where ever I can.

first a disclaimer.
I am not an marine biologist. Neither a marine expert. Just lucky to have an Aunt in the snail collection hobby that guided me a lot. Thanks.

Strombidae
Herbivore
Algae
Detritus

Very nice snails to get. Be careful, their operculum can cut you.

Strombus aurisdianae
Euprotomus_aurisdianae_2710_zps7pvzgm9v.JPG


Strombus decorus
Strombus_decorus_decorus_2_zpsxc7zxoc1.JPG



Strombus gibberulus
Gibberulus_gibberulus_gibberulus_3525_zpsztnt0ape.JPG
 
Click to expand...
so as a quick guide the baddies are generally long whereas the good ones are more round?
 
Lastly

THE UGLY

Humans


  • Get a permit
  • Keep to the daily limit of 15 per day
  • Confirm first before coming home
  • Get yourself an identification book
  • Post request for ID on MASA if unsure
  • Only take what your tank can handle
  • If you still not sure, put it back


Leave the big tiger cowries. Unless you got a big completely green tank, they will starve eventually.
 
Fuzzy said:
so as a quick guide the baddies are generally long whereas the good ones are more round?
Click to expand...

Excellent observation.

YES.

Generally, if the opening is round, the snail could be a goody.
If opening is oblong and or narrow, then they are most likely baddies.
 
And the best scavenger we get locally, Nassarius gaudiosus:

nassarius_gaudiosus2.jpg


About 15mm long, buries in shallow sand under rocks. Shell is quite glossy.

hppr314.jpg


And you sometimes get this one on sandbanks in the estuaries north of Durban (Richards Bay etc):

Nassarius_arcularius_plicatus_2.jpg
 
Richard Schultz said:
Anyone know of or seen this species? Pic doesn't do it justice, has a blue trimming right around
Click to expand...


Bubble shell, Hydatina physis. At certain times of the year they're super common...like 10 per rockpool. They eat small polychaete worms, so if you have a deep sand bed in your display then they do quite well. Short lived species though, even in the wild. I've had tiny ones grow to max size in a few months, but never had one last longer than a year.
 
Thanks for the info! first time I've seen one in East London, but that probably because I've never been looking for snails!
 
Had one of those bubble shell snails the first time I collected snails.

Cruised around my DSB for about 2 months then it died. DSB most likely too small to support the number of worms the snail needed.
 
time to bump this thread....
 
Lord_Blackadder said:
The only likely Strombus you're gonna find locally is S. mutabilis. Much smaller species and a super algae eater. They even clean hair algae off your seagrass and other macroalgae without damaging them. I got 4 in the Kei last week:

mutabjx.jpg


The other larger species only start to become common in Moz. Pretty rare to find live ones this far south (but certainly possible).

PS. the Clanculus spp and Calliostoma spp. topshells tend to be sponge/coral eaters. Clanculus atricatena is pretty common here live and they're sponge eater IME.

Clanculus_atricatena_holotype.jpg


Dactylastele burnupi is also pretty common under rocks here. Used to be in Trochidae but now they're in their own family, Calliostomatidae. Most are coral munchers, and this species wrecks zoanthids:

Dactylastele%20burnupi.jpg
Click to expand...


I wish I could get some of these bad boys ! got some Zoas that just wont die!
 
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