Wild Collected Common Periwinkle

[Whitebird1]

Wild Collected Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea)
I have been experimenting with them as part of my reef clean up crew for about a year and the results have been positive. Survival rate is very good. They have not bothered or fed on any reef inhabitants, pure vegetarian. I have seen no indications of parasites or mortality of my regular reef snails during this time. They do climb out, so a sealed top is a must.
Collecting- Shark River, Rocky areas at low tide, also on the Bulkheads and Docks. I was able to gather 100 or so in 20 minutes. Supple is unlimited!
Following are a few facts from the web and a pic of some in my Cheato, grow out tank.

Origin- The largest British periwinkle ( Imported, not native)
Feeding- They are significant grazers of juvenile algae, diatoms, a range of fine green, brown and red algae, including Ulva lactuca, Ulva spp., Cladophora spp. and Ectocarpus spp. Diatoms, Enteromorpha, and Porphyra.
Non Toxic and even used as food!
Life Span-They mature between 2 and 3 years of age, and are expected to live between 5 and 10 years.

 

[MadReefer]

Thanks for the info. I plan on collecting some this weekend. Do you quarantine them before putting them in the tank?

 

[Whitebird1]

No quarantine for Periwinkle (Littorina littorea) I have not found any literature indicating Parasites. The Mud Dogs (Ilyanassa obsoleta), harbors several species of trematode flatworms, and I have treated them with PARAGON and have them surviving over 5 years now.
GregH

 

[Hawkeye]

Wild Collected Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea)
Non Toxic and even used as food!

I've seen a small bucket of those snails for sale in the asian market. There's one right across from OGII on route 22 in Central Jersey that I saw had a small batch of them. They were next to the littleneck clams and the blue crabs...In Manhattan - fugeaboutit - they are pretty common in Chinatown.

Five years is really impressive Greg. I thought they were a temperate species and would slowly cook - but experience (as always) proves otherwise. Thanks for sharing!