Snail ID
 

those kind of look like conches,
They look like they have the trunk like mouth although its hard to tell by the picture

There great for cleaning up sand beds if they are indead conches.

Hope that helps
Josh

hmm, look like whelks to me. I have one very similar.

Are they reef safe? I have 5 small ones sitting in a bag right now and dont know if I should set them loose?

Problem is, are they the dreaded "predatory whelks?" I have one small one very much like your picture with darker colours, but he doesn't do much and I don't see it too often, maybe it's not big enough to cause trouble.

Looks kind of similar to a Nassarius, but with a longer snout.

Whats the worst that could happen if I let them loose?

Mine so far is harmless. And let's face it, if you see them doing any harm, they aren't hard to catch. Maybe Dr. Ron is the one to ask...

They could go after your other snails, worst case...

Have you looked at the Dr Ron archives at RC? This is one, another guy with whelks.

This one's even better:
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a...wb/default.asp

HTH.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

They are definately some type of whelk. They may appear to be directly harmless, but most whelks are carnivorous. Many feed on microphauna. Keep a close eye on them. They may be harmless in small numbers, but may be capable of doing some damage in the masses.

They probably aren't much to worry about, but I would try to get an ID from Dr. Ron anyways..

I recently discovered some similar whelk like creatures, but I was unable to ID them. They looked like nausarius snails a wee bit. here's a pic:

http://members.shaw.ca/limestone2/snailid01.jpg