Help! Nassarius snail with no shell???

[bonniej]

I saw this creature 2 nights ago and last night. It is about the size of my nassarius snails, about 3/4 inch, and it acts like them, but it doesn’t seem to have a shell and the tube in the front is fatter and shorter.
It looks leathery and has “spikes” all over it, so it doesn’t look like the pictures of Nassarius snails with no shell (slimy looking) that I’ve seen in other posts.
It comes out at night and goes away in the day. It roams around, seemingly feeding, and I even saw what looks like a tiny piece of waste come out of a hole in its backside.
I know I have 3 snails this size but they come out at different times so I don’t know if one is missing. (Video coming)

 

[bonniej]

I saw this creature 2 nights ago and last night. It is about the size of my nassarius snails, about 3/4 inch, and it acts like them, but it doesn’t seem to have a shell and the tube in the front is fatter and shorter.
It looks leathery and has “spikes” all over it, so it doesn’t look like the pictures of Nassarius snails with no shell (slimy looking) that I’ve seen in other posts.
It comes out at night and goes away in the day. It roams around, seemingly feeding, and I even saw what looks like a tiny piece of waste come out of a hole in its backside.
I know I have 3 snails this size but they come out at different times so I don’t know if one is missing. (Video coming)

 

[bonniej]

 

[bonniej]

Oh, and my questions are:
What is it?
What should I do?

 

[edsbeaker]

Hi @bonniej
Does this look the same?

If so it’s a cowrie. I don’t know much about them hoping someone will be able to tell you if it is reef safe.

 

[bluemon]

Looks like a cowrie, most are reef safe, I’d leave it in unless you see it doing something you don’t want.

The shell is underneath the mantle. The mantle polishes it so the shell is extra shiny

 

[bonniej]

I don’t see the picture, I don’t know why not.

I believe I had a very small cowrie as part of a bunch of snails a LFS sold me, but I haven’t seen it in a month. When I saw it, it had a very shiny shell. If this is the same guy, it’s tripled in size in a few weeks. I’ve read that cowries slowly die in a 78deg reef tank, as they are used to colder water in their native habitat, so I wouldn’t have bought one knowingly. If this one has tripled, and gotten leathery and bumpy, what does that say about its health?

 

[bonniej]

Oh, now I see the picture. Yes, that’s what it looks like!!!
My question about health and what to do still stands.

 

[I never finish anythi]

Money cowrie

 

[bluemon]

I don’t see the picture, I don’t know why not.

I believe I had a very small cowrie as part of a bunch of snails a LFS sold me, but I haven’t seen it in a month. When I saw it, it had a very shiny shell. If this is the same guy, it’s tripled in size in a few weeks. I’ve read that cowries slowly die in a 78deg reef tank, as they are used to colder water in their native habitat, so I wouldn’t have bought one knowingly. If this one has tripled, and gotten leathery and bumpy, what does that say about its health?

nothing really, when it is happy, it should extend its mantle and cover its shell entirely like you see in the picture.

There are tropical varieties of cowries as well

 

[bonniej]

Thank you everyone.
I will now enjoy this lovely, evidently happy, critter I didn’t know I had.
I wonder how he escaped detection until now… ah, the mysteries of the sea in my living room.

 

[BryanM]

That critter is cool!

 

[Besieged]

I'd certainly keep it, myself.

I had stomatellas come in with my liverock. Saw them on day 1 and 2, then they disappeared and I didn't seem them again for 6 weeks. I'd had a hypersalinity event and thought I'd lost them all... until one day, out of nowhere, I counted 3 adults and 1 or 2 juvenile's crawling around... and then suddenly I see them all the time. Now, about a week after first spotting them again, I can always find a few crawling around, any time I look.

Sometimes reef critters are just weird that way. You add a fish or invert, see it for a while, it disappears. You're sure its dead and gone, and then one day weeks or months later it appears out of nowhere like nothing happened.