Pics of the unknown

[underseaworld]

I took these last night and was wondering what this may be. It came on the live rock. I seen this about 6 months ago and never seen it since. Put last night it was out front in the tank so I was able to get some good pics of it. It's a the size of my finger nail on my pinky. Could this be an Abalone? And is it harmfur for the reef tank?

These picts were taken with a cannon g2.

And also for some that wanted a weather update it is going to be in the mid 80's and sunny......

[Reefland]

Hi underseaworld,

Here is a paragraph about this snail that I wrote in the March 2005 Edition of RHO:

Stomatella Snails (Stomatella varia) – This snail is typically not purchased yet a very common and very prolific hitch hiker. The Stomatella is fast moving compared to other snails and has only a very small shell in comparison to others. Almost any reefer that has purchased an amount of liverock and gazed at their tank at night has noted an abundance of Stomatella Snails that they have never seen before, as this is a nocturnal herbivore. Due to their rapid reproduction, some people consider there a nuisance and they can be but fear not, there are many other reefers that would love to have a few if your willing to catch them and take them to local club meetings.

[scubadude]

Hi underseaworld,

some people consider there a nuisance and they can be but fear not.

Scott can you elaborate a little on this. There is one problem I have with stomatellas and that would be their size which is comparable to nassarius. Both the nassarius and stomatella have been a nuisance because I have seen them both in my pumps an they have clogged/restricted my pumps because of their size. I wanted to hear possible other problems with the stomatellas though.

[Reefland]

Due to their rapid reproduction, some people consider there a nuisance

Due to rapid reproduction, the number of Stomatella can become overwhelming in that they become an eyesore (small snails everwhere) or as you mentioned they can start to migrate to undesirable places; inside pumps, etc.

[underseaworld]

I only have one of these in my tank. This snail only has a top shell if that makes any sense to you. It looks almost like an abalone but small. I also have a ton of small snails that are the size of a pee. They reproduce fast. And thanks for the ID on it. I just did a search in google and this is the name that came up that looks just like what i have. Stomatella varians-abalone nain

Due to rapid reproduction, the number of Stomatella can become overwhelming in that they become an eyesore (small snails everwhere) or as you mentioned they can start to migrate to undesirable places; inside pumps, etc.

[Samper]

If you've seen one I'm willing to bet you have 30.