Snails in South Carolina

[Singlemalt]

I'm in Hilton Head on vacation. There are a bunch of snails that seem to live in a tidal area. They are attahced to some marine grass and seem to like to hang out right arot und the water line. Some are even on the grass that is out of the water. Their shells are mostly white and spiral shaped. The temperature of the water is in the high 70's right now.

I was thinking about bringing a few home and throwing them in the tank. Does anybody know what these are and if they would be beneficial in a reef tank?

 

[Hawkeye]

you'll need a picture - there are a lot of different species of snails/gastropods. If they are out of the water - then it may be that they are an "inter-tidal" species...the closest thing I can think of is a Nerite Snail.

 

[Singlemalt]

Thanks Phil. Managed to get a couple of decent pics with my crappy camera. The snails are anywhere from 1/4 to 3/4 of an inch long and I just noticed that at low tide they can live out of the water. Here are the pics.

 

[Hawkeye]

Impossible to tell. The shell looks similar to a turbo but the opening is not circular - they have more rounded openings. I checked this Article by Dr. Ronbut I don't think any match your specimen.

Ah - I may have found it...it appears to be some kind of periwinkle snail. Google that and hopefully you'll find yours.

 

[panmanmatt]

Not sure of their scientific name but they are also called periwinkle snails. They prefer cooler water and will climb out of your tank. Not uncommon to find then crawling across the carpet at times.

 

[Singlemalt]

Here's the best pic I found on Google. Looks like they are in fact periwinkles. I'll do some resarch. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!!

 

[waynes reef]

lol, i can just imagine coming home from work with a bunch of snails crawling across my floor with my saint bernards playing with them