Here is a certain little monster that has been a recent addition to my strange animal list:
I'm pretty sure it is a Pleuroploca species, although tough to tell which one due to the lack of juvenile pictures for some species. He's by himself and has been chowing down on scallop meat at a somewhat alarming rate (chunks ~1/2 the size of his foot daily). Hopefully he'll grow well and I'll eventually be able to get a narrower ID.
So, I am hoping I can query the salties here to see if anyone else has kept Pleuroploca snails and, more specifically, if anyone has ever observed any species eating fish meat?
The reason I ask is that there is a lot of conflicting info in the literature about diet for these snails. All sources seem to be in agreement on other mollusks and polychaetes being on the list for Pleuroploca species, but the list beyond that varies by source. A couple of sources seem to suggest that these snails should eat anything that can't run away fast enough. However, the one I've got completely snoozes through offerings of fish meat, while he springs up almost immediately when scallop hits the water. I'm going to guess that a diet of various invertebrate meat will work out health-wise, but I'd still like to know whether the diet is variable with age/species or if it really is limited to other invertebrates in most/all Pleuroploca species.
I'm pretty sure it is a Pleuroploca species, although tough to tell which one due to the lack of juvenile pictures for some species. He's by himself and has been chowing down on scallop meat at a somewhat alarming rate (chunks ~1/2 the size of his foot daily). Hopefully he'll grow well and I'll eventually be able to get a narrower ID.
So, I am hoping I can query the salties here to see if anyone else has kept Pleuroploca snails and, more specifically, if anyone has ever observed any species eating fish meat?
The reason I ask is that there is a lot of conflicting info in the literature about diet for these snails. All sources seem to be in agreement on other mollusks and polychaetes being on the list for Pleuroploca species, but the list beyond that varies by source. A couple of sources seem to suggest that these snails should eat anything that can't run away fast enough. However, the one I've got completely snoozes through offerings of fish meat, while he springs up almost immediately when scallop hits the water. I'm going to guess that a diet of various invertebrate meat will work out health-wise, but I'd still like to know whether the diet is variable with age/species or if it really is limited to other invertebrates in most/all Pleuroploca species.
