Cone Shells

[Lynden]

Hello. About a month ago, i was sifting and moving some live rock, and when i tipped the largest piece upside down, a peculiar orange and white tentacle was probing around the outside of its resident hole. I observed the oddity for several minutes, and then it "retracted inside itself" after exposure to full light.
I was mystified, But didnt think much else of it. Although it did remind me of a cone shelled snail, which i have seen on various television programs.

I recently watched a program depicting cone shell snails. The "tentacle" esque thing I saw was identical to that of a cone shelled snail respiration tube. It shyed from the light, like the noctural cone shells normally do. It probed around in a similiar manner. And it retracted in a similiar fashion as well.

Recently, my orange banded goby dissapeared. Incidentally, gobies are a favourite food of cone shells. I fear for my other fish as well as for myself; I would hate to fall prey to the venom of the worlds third most toxic animal. If anyone has any idea what i can do, or what i may be mistaking this for, it would be gladly accepted, as this is a potentially life-threating matter. Also if I am overreacting.

Thanks,
-Lynden

 

[Opcn]

Don't hear much of cone shells, are you sure it wasn't just a peanut worm, or some other type? how big as the hole it came out of?

 

[bunjiweb]

Could well have been a cone snail, they are known hitchikers on liverock. In various marine books i have it says they are not suitable to "tank life" beause they end up killing other inhabitants, or seriously injuring the owner of the tank. I would try and get it out as carefully as possible. If it wont come out of the tube then it may be time to inject it with some lovely air, if that is you have a spare hyperdermic needle lying around...

Ben

 

[Donya]

More than just cone shells have a respiration tube (siphon), an it's not really possible to identify snails from that particular part of anatomy except to note the presence or absence of it. Coloration and all that varies too much to use it to pin down to a particular snail. Among others, whelks also have siphons: http/www.vattenkikaren.gu.se/fakta/arter...nda/buccund.jpg, and I believe bumblebees have it as well: http/www.etropicals.com/images/products/...lebee_snail.jpg

If it is indeed a snail siphon, it could be anything so be extreemly careful anyway until you see it out of hiding. There are many carnivorous snails out there, so it could be something other than a coneshell that ate the goby, but...you never know. If it were me I'd probably try to get that rock out of there and dig it out with forceps, but if the rocks firmly in place that would be tough

 

[steelhealr]

Well..maybe a little overreacting. Remember, we sometimes forget that in setting up a marine tank, we bring a small microcosm of the ocean into our house. Survival of the fittest. That means bristles, nematocysts, smashing chelae, toxic exudations from corals, bites, spines, etc.

I wouldn't panic until you have a positive ID. On the other hand, you shouldn't have hands in the tank without gloves on. See if you can see it at night. If not, you may want to research it and try and catch it...or...remove the rock it is hiding in or under. SH

 

[andyk]

hi
Are you sure the goby didnt jump from the tank?
they are renouned for doing this and will get through tiny holes..
I have had one do this...was only afte this i found out there passion for jumping!
andy

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Yeah id make sure it didnt jump, but if it were me, id chisel off that part of the rock that had the thing in it just to be safe.

 

[Lynden]

Warning: extremly long post ahead!


I am sure that it (goby) didnt jump. Around the time of diisapearance, I checked the floor very regularly.
I have seen whelk and bumblebee snails; if this animal was indeed a snail, this probe definetly belongs to a cone shell, it matches the color form of common cone shells nearly exactly. The thing was pearl white striped with orange, red, and black. Also, it was around 3'' long, and was peering out of a hole around 2.5'' in diameter.

What i might do is try to find out where the rock came from. Since cone shells particularly hang out around rock rubble around oceania and australia, perfect live rock material, it would probably reduce the risk of cone shell hitchhikings if the rock was collected somewhere other than there.

Sadly, it will be extremly difficult to remove the animal from the rock. If i took it out of water, it may retract completely into its shell, although you can all bet that i will be wearing thick fisherman's gloves come the day of the "operation".

I do realize that i am bringing ocean life into my home, and that this is in no way the snails fault.
But this isnt a mere aiptasia, bristleworm, or mantis; these cone shells are an animal that can strike in a fraction of a second fron far enough away that you may not even realize what hit you, it has the third most toxic venom on earth which has evolved to kill vertebrates, not just stun, but kill, and it has evolved to be able to kill fast enough so that the snail's meal will not swim away.

Panic is the enemy, so that will be avoided. Does anyone know what thickness the gloves need to be? Im guessing 1''.

Thanks for all the help,
-Lynden

 

[macpegg]

Can you not just place some the marine water into a bucket and place the rock in it and take a pic of the snail atleast we can then try and help to identify it properly, wouldn`t want you kill something if you were thinking that way i mean for no reason.

 

[Lynden]

Oh dont worry; killing the animal will be a last resort. I dont have the gut/nerve to kill animals, and i will try everything before killing it. I do not have a camera that is working, so a picture is out of the question. I could always borrow Riley's camera though.....

However, if I grasp the bottom of the rock, that gives the snail enough time to neutralize me. I will have to wear very long, thick gloves nonetheless in order to protect myself.

-Lynden

 

[Dragonscales]

If it turns out to be a coneshell and you don't plan on keeping it then maybe see if a university or research centre near you wants to take it. They are finding out some pretty amazing things about coneshell venom recently and it's toxins may have the potential to cure some pretty nasty diseases.

 

[Lynden]

If it turns out to be a coneshell and you don't plan on keeping it then maybe see if a university or research centre near you wants to take it. They are finding out some pretty amazing things about coneshell venom recently and it's toxins may have the potential to cure some pretty nasty diseases.

Thats a good idea. I would like to keep it, but it would probably be better off dead on some researchers disecting table. Since coneshell venom is such a diverse cocktail, it would undoubtedly have a very high potential for curing disease.

The only real problem with doing this is that researchers need dozens of animals, not just one. But contributing is better than doing nothing.

-Lynden

 

[Mr Miagi]

True a cone shell is dangerous, and potentially leathal, but so are many things in our reef's. Zoanthids can blind, burn, sting and bloat humans from contact or digestion. Bristle worms will infect, sting and burn you on contact. Your skin will contionuosly push out their spines for days if not weeks. Fish we keep have razor sharp spines and venom. Nudibrachs, crabs, urchins, worms, fish, corals all have the ability, but you still have them.

- http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=79056


If it were me, id leave it alone. I already try and limit my time 'in tank' as much as possible, and when im in it, i were lgoves like SH suggested. I never find myself having to dig into the sand bed. I do re-erange (sp?) LR, but once its there, I leave it for ages. I would go about things normally if it were me.

 

[Navarre]

Ok lets not all assume its a coneshell. As previously mentioned, there are many many types of predatory snails and out of all of these it "might" be a coneshell. To be sure of what it is you simply have to remove it from the liverock. This is not as difficult as you would imagine.

Remove the rock and place it in a seperate container. Increase the salinity (to livable levels but as high as possible). Then slowly increase the temperature of the water. This (along with the increased SG) will drastically reduce the oxygen levels in the water and any resident hitchiker should evacuate the rock in search of better water conditions. It works for bristleworms so i see no reason why it shouldnt work for other creatures as they all have a common denominator... They all breath.