Whelks in Nassarius shipments KY

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Just a warning to fellow reefers here in KY I’ve got nassarius from several stores over the past months and several times I’ve ended up with a whelk in there without knowing it till I got home. Every time they’ve been tiny, too tiny to tell hardly. Only the behavior and subsequent out of water inspection identified them as a whelk to me. PLEASE inspect everything you think is a nassarius before leaving the fish shop. The whelk has a trap door ON THE SHELL, the nassarius has one on the body. Also if they’re big enough the whelk trunk is tattoed.

https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/whelk-versus-nassarius
Thank you @SMSREEF for providing the article in an old page.

 

[KrisReef]

That’s a great tip. I will bolo these at my lfs for certain.!

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

That’s a great tip. I will bolo these at my lfs for certain.!

The ones I ended up with were so small it took me weeks to notice. Best way to tell for me is when they’re crawling all over the walls at the LFS tank. Nassarius will stay on the bottom. Whelks go looking for things to murder

 

[TnFishwater98]

Just a warning to fellow reefers here in KY I’ve got nassarius from several stores over the past months and several times I’ve ended up with a whelk in there without knowing it till I got home. Every time they’ve been tiny, too tiny to tell hardly. Only the behavior and subsequent out of water inspection identified them as a whelk to me. PLEASE inspect everything you think is a nassarius before leaving the fish shop. The whelk has a trap door ON THE SHELL, the nassarius has one on the body. Also if they’re big enough the whelk trunk is tattoed.

https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/whelk-versus-nassarius
Thank you @SMSREEF for providing the article in an old page.

Sooooooo, the the hard circle thing on the back of snail tails are only in Whelks?

 

[TnFishwater98]

Sooooooo, the the hard circle thing on the back of snail tails are only in Whelks?

Is the best way to tell by the “tattoo” pattern on their snout?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Sooooooo, the the hard circle thing on the back of snail tails are only in Whelks?

No. The hard circle thing is on nassarius but it’s attached to the snails body or tail. On a whelk it’s part of the shell. Like if you poke it to get it to close you’ll see the door close once all the body is up in there. You won’t see the door on their tail. The tattoo helps but mine were so small I couldn’t see it. Whelks also have like a “bumpy” shell. It kinda looks like a cerith but with bumps all over it rather than the smooth nassarius shell.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I received whelks from a well known online dealer recently. Unfortunately, he did not want the feedback, so I doubt he will change his collecting methods.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

If anyone knows of a place to get actual nassarius vibex, please let me know.