Nifty little snail

[rckmtl]

So I found this snail on a rock while cleaning the tank. I mostly think it is nifty cuz I've never seen one before. From pics on a recent post, I think it looks like a stomatella(sp?). But all the pics I've seen of those, the snails have been a pale sandy color. I like this one cuz of the neat contrasting pattern. Also...it's.. tail? mantle?.. whatever the back part of a snail is called, is texturized, kinda spiky.

It also acted funny. I've never seen a snail give a rip about what is happening around it, but when I looking at this one, if my finger got too close, it would stop and back up and a couple of times it swiveled it's eyestalks upwards like it was looking at me. It's like it was a smart snail. Kinda weird.

P.S. I've recently discovered the wonders of using a hosting service to store my pics, the just linking them into the post. If I am posting photos that are too big, or if you have dial-up and my posts have to long of a load time, please pm me so I can fix the sit. in the future. Thanks!

 

[Woodstock]

Awesome photos Ellen!! I've never seen a stometella with a shell pattern like that... maybe someone can ID it for us....

 

[Boomer]

It may be a colored stometella, Pseudostometella but looks more like a Stomatella impertusa or something like a Stomatella auricula.

http://www.infochembio.ethz.ch/links/en/zool_weicht_schnecken_stomatellidae.html

http://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Trochidae/Pages/stomatella_impertusa.htm

http://www.gastropods.com/Taxon_pages/Group_Stomatella.html

 

[NaH2O]

Excellent photos - you can see an amphipod very clearly in the second shot right infront of the stomatella.

Awesome Boomer!

 

[rckmtl]

Thanks everyone! Thanks for the links Boomer, It does look like the same type of shell pattern as the varities in the second link.

Yeah-I thought the pic witht the pod was funny. kinda looks like the snail is either going to eat it or run it over!

 

[KimPossible]

I recently had one id'd in my tank. After I found out what it was i googled the web. I was surprised to see the variety of colors and mostly....shell shape! I thought the pattern on your snail was the same as the Stomatella. And I saw a similar shaped shell, but just not the zebra coloration, although I'm sure theres a pic out there somewhere!

Boomers the bomb....thanks for the links.

 

[Witfull]

excellent macro pics,,,what cam are you using?

 

[rckmtl]

Kim- Yeah, I was supprised as well when I looked through the links that boomer posted. But I keep forgetting that we only get tiny portion of what's out there coming into the stores.

Wit- Thank you! I'm using a Konica Minolta Dimage Z10. It takes good pics as long as i'm patient.

 

[fishhead]

What a delight.