Bout time...

[hahnmeister]

Its about time someone did an article on the Ilyanassa obsoleta. My hats off to Mike Greenemeier for it.

Now someone just needs to do one on the bumblebee snail... that little whelk bugger is peddled by too many LFS's and online retailers as a detrivore. Well, the only thing its trying to find under the sand is a snail or two to eat.

[greenbean36191]

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'd been planning to write about this for about 3 years, but didn't get around to putting it into article form until recently.

Now I'm just waiting for the backlash from the vendors and collectors.

FWIW, I do agree with you about the bumblebee snails, but I don't think there is enough to write about them to justify an entire article.

[hahnmeister]

perhaps if someone did a study to catch them in the act... but I get what you mean. Its a simple species reclassification, not alot to say about it.

[MiddletonMark]

Nice article, glad to see you writing

[nacre]

Mike, great article! I did my master's thesis on Ilyanassa and you're dead on target.

[Skipper]

Heya Mike. Never realized you were greenbean here on RC. Pleasant surprise...

[Agu]

Great article

You mentioned the Ebay and other online vendors that collect wild caught Ilyanassa and sell them online. Is there any evidence that these snails are getting sold to retail stores or getting into the distribution chain that also supply vibex ?

IE if I buy snails through my LFS or a major online vendor will I have to confirm the species ?

[greenbean36191]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

I know there are a few retailers selling them, but they don't seem to be nearly as numerous as the Ebay sources and I haven't seen most of them make the same claims about them. All of the retailers I've seen either have them listed as Ilyanassa or at least show a picture of them. As long as you recognize Ilyanassa from a picture you should be ok. I don't think I've heard of anyone who was expecting a species of true Nassarius and actually ended up with Ilyanassa. Of course that's not to say it doesn't happen. Some people just might not notice the difference, so they don't complain.

I have seen them at the LFS as well, but again if you make yourself familiar enough with this species, it's fairly easy not to be fooled.

Never realized you were greenbean here on RC.

I guessed that by the last email.

[dc]

I didn't realize you had a real name.

[Jamesurq]

Mad props Mike.

Great article.

[nUgZ]

I have a question regarding the trematode flukes that these snails carry. I happen to live in NC and at one of our local club meetings a member brought a large amount of these snails and distributed them to all of us. I was happy to accept and currently have about 50 of them in 3 tanks here at home. After doing a good bit of transfering rock/livestock from tank to tank the past 2 days, I have developed this rash you refer to in the article on almost every finger on the hand I use in the tank. I couldn't sleep for close to an hour last night after waking up at one point because of the extreme itch. My question is if I remove all of these snails, how long will the flukes survive in the tank without the snails as hosts??

[greenbean36191]

Once the cercaria are released from the snail they shouldn't last much longer than a day or two in the tank.

[farmer john]

Great article, as in most of the world price will determine which one you"l get NC> lowprice Pacific> high price

[Azurel]

Great article!
Thank you for sharing and clearing up things that might other wise go un-noticed.....

[brettcollectibles]

where and how could i go about reading this article everyone is talking about?

[Jamesurq]

It's an old episode of the reefkeeping magazine. Go to reefkeeping.com and look for past issues. Probably November 2006.

[Skipper]

Here's the article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/mg/index.php

[inwall75]

Great article Mike and Brian!!! Thank you very much.