CHECK THIS OUT..Snail feeding

[CMG]

I thought this would be an interesting thing to post. I really really ttried to video tape this but the digital camera doesnt have those capabilities at such close range. Kinda like trying to use an M-16 in house to house warefar, just doesnt work too well.

So this is a cerith snail I think?? I bought this months ago and havent seen him since....he just burrowed and never came up again until today.

Approaching the piece of formula one chunk...big feeler sticking up there..


He has found it


Here you can see his mouth whic looks like atube pointing at us with a red piece of food in it!!


Here is another pic of his tube mouth thingy..


Anyways I just thought that was neat he was right next to the glass and I thought I would share it, dont know how many people have actually seen them eat close up. Totaly different than the Nerites who eat as the are suctioned. I saw a sea hare against the glass at the LFS the other day and he ate even differently. He put his "mouth" against the glass then this thing comes out, looks like an O and then this other thing comes outa that and makes a human mouth movement like opening and closing. Very neat stuff.

[GSELLERS]

cool shots looks like a nassarius snail

[Dentoid]

Neato!

[JustDavidP]

Looks nassarius to me too Aren't they cool. I love when you feed the tank and it's like "night of the living dead" when they all come out of the sand to feed. I've got at least 8 to 10 in my 26 bowfront. They do a great job moving the top layer of sand around too. When they burry themselves after eating, they leave that little siphon up through the sand.

Dave

[CMG]

Originally Posted by JustDavidP

Looks nassarius to me too Aren't they cool. I love when you feed the tank and it's like "night of the living dead" when they all come out of the sand to feed. I've got at least 8 to 10 in my 26 bowfront. They do a great job moving the top layer of sand around too. When they burry themselves after eating, they leave that little siphon up through the sand.

Dave

Oh wow, I will have to watch and look for it! Thats prolly how he knows its feeding time. As soon as I started feeding he just came out of nowhere. And he has never ever done it before...or maybe I just couldnt see him wherever he was. Everyone was always talking about how they come up and he never did so I just figured he died.

[reefer4200]

def. a nassarius IMO, they are friggen sweet to watch tho. And yes when they go under they pop their feeler out waiting to smell the food, and then poof next thing you know their out!! And great pics, love watching them eat.

[BengBear]

Yup, it seems to be Nassarius snail, at the least the shell and color is. I had 2 in my tank for about a week. They move fast and look wonderful.

[blue_eyes53813]

Very cool. Your pictures are very good.

[JustDavidP]

With a 40 gallon tank, you could put a few more in there. They are GREAT at cleaning foods left over on the sand bed. They'll even crawl up the rock from time to time if they sense food stuck in there. Great little reef janitors.

They also lay eggs like crazy which, for the most part, become fish food, but is awesome to witness. Here's mine laying on the glass.



Dave

[zeus_roush]

i love these these snails. i call them my zombie crew, because of the way they all come out at the same time the second food hits the tank.