Predatory Snail ID (white hair on shell)

[Bravesphan95]

Came across this snail feeding on a bivalve on live rock from KP aquatics, the foot had molted pattern similar to a flamingo tongue snail and the shell had lots of tiny white hairs. I'm thinking some sort of whelk from the research I've come across...

 

[Tamberav]

It is a welk though I don’t know the exact kind. I have ones just like it, hairy and all. I have never seen it eat corals, not sure about snails, it’s mostly nocturnal and it can reproduce in our tanks.

I remove them when I see them but overall they have not been very destructive.

 

[Rjukan]

Cool looking tho...

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Some kind of Triton snail (taxonomic family Cymatiidae) - I'm not sure which kind, thought with the description of the foot, my first thoughts would be the Common Hairy Triton (Monoplex pilearis) or the Giant Hairy Triton (Monoplex parthenopus).

That said, I wouldn't expect either of these to reproduce successfully in a tank, though, as they both hatch as veligers (free-swimming larvae) and stay as veligers for a while - so it may well be a different species from the family with either a short pelagic stage or with benthic larvae.

Regardless, the two snails listed above typically go for bivalves (clams, oysters, mussels, etc.) rather than other snails; they may also go for things like tunicates, or very rarely other inverts (I don't imagine this would be a problem with decent feeding quantities in the average tank, but I could be wrong).

 

[vetteguy53081]

Came across this snail feeding on a bivalve on live rock from KP aquatics, the foot had molted pattern similar to a flamingo tongue snail and the shell had lots of tiny white hairs. I'm thinking some sort of whelk from the research I've come across...

May be a cowry snail covered in algae but need clearer pics under white light intensity for best i.d.

 

[Bravesphan95]

Some kind of Triton snail (taxonomic family Cymatiidae) - I'm not sure which kind, thought with the description of the foot, my first thoughts would be the Common Hairy Triton (Monoplex pilearis) or the Giant Hairy Triton (Monoplex parthenopus).

That said, I wouldn't expect either of these to reproduce successfully in a tank, though, as they both hatch as veligers (free-swimming larvae) and stay as veligers for a while - so it may well be a different species from the family with either a short pelagic stage or with benthic larvae.

Regardless, the two snails listed above typically go for bivalves (clams, oysters, mussels, etc.) rather than other snails; they may also go for things like tunicates, or very rarely other inverts (I don't imagine this would be a problem with decent feeding quantities in the average tank, but I could be wrong).

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction ! A quick google search confirmed it for me...looks like it's a Common Hairy Triton.

Meet the Hairy Triton

The Hairy Triton, Monoplex pilearis (Linnaeus, 1758) is a relatively common tropical western Atlantic species that is present also in the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans, including Polynesia and Hawaii. The long-lasting pelagic (open-water) larvae in this species allow for ocean crossing at...

www.shellmuseum.org