what is this?

[spstimie]

So for a year ive had this sluglike creature in my 45 after i picked up the rock and livestock from a friend that was taking down his tank. I just got pics in my gallery of it and slug1 is his head if you can tell. it is yellow, oval shaped head to tail, has a cone/disklikeshell that is coated by shifting skin, a fanlike fin all around that usually covers underneath, and appears to have its @$$ in the top of the shell. take a look and well see if anyone knows. thx

[Thurge]

No good idea. Your discription of a skin coating the shell makes me think of a Cowery snail.

[darkangler]

I believe it is a form of limpit snail.

[wisdom695]

i got one of thise in my tank also . are they ok to have?

[tkeracer619]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/143656slug2.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/143656slug1.JPG

[roguemonk]

Limpets cling to surfaces and have no exposed gastropod. It looks like a nudibranch (sea slug) of some kind, but they don't have shells. Are you sure it has a shell or does it just look like a shell?

If it truly has a flattish shell then I would say it's some exotic species of stomatella.

Brad

[spstimie]

thx for putting the pics up tke i had trouble with that. it deffinitely has`a shell and if you have one i dont suggest you touch it. mine was on the glass near the top of the tank a week ago when i was doing a water change. i tried to coerse it down and it left a blister on my finger and the skin coating on its shell was insulted, but both are healing fine.lol but i like it, it is a great cleaner, it eats as much as my black longspine urchin. ill try to get a couple of different shots those were the only two i could get yesterday. ive heard limpit b4. thx

[spstimie]

ok so googled limpet and cowery and didnt see anything. the cowerys are shaped much different and the limpets shells are similar but it says limpets dont move. this rhing is active as all hell and it does have a head like a slug. no good pics today its in the rocks.

[roguemonk]

I'm baffled. Maybe it's a new species (genus? family? order?), and you can have it named after you. :-)

Brad

[darkangler]

There are many forms of limpet snails and some have an exterior mantle that will almost engulf the shell when fully expanded. Also, limpets do move. Compare it to the keyhole Limpet on Live Aquaria, under the snail section. There are many different colors for these snails. Limpet Snail prefers an established aquarium with live rock and plenty of microalgae from which they can graze. These Limpets are sensitive to high nitrate levels and copper-based medications. They are a great addition to the reef aquarium for algae control, and will not bother sessile invertebrates. I have 3 different varieties in my system and they have never bothered anything.

[roguemonk]

Thanks for the info. Liveaquaria doesn't have that item listed today, and I can't find any photos online that show anything like the colorful frilly appearance we see. In other respects, though, it does sound like a limpet.

Brad

[spstimie]

so yeah limpets do move, read that wrong, but i have small limpets in my ten gallon and googled kehole limpet as well. the shells are pretty much the same shape but i have never seen a limpet with any external
appendages or coating. not ruling it out though. no good photo ops yet how bout you wisdom got any pics of yours?

[spstimie]

www.seaotter.com/marine/research/megatebennus/bimaculatus/html/bimaculatus.jpg.html
/www.mbnms-simon.org/other/photos/photo_info.php?photoID=1051&search=inverts&s=440&page=23
i just finished another search and came across these so i figure you were probably right about the keyhole limpet:}