Carved Star Snail

Geographical Origin and Habitat: Widely distributed in the tropical Western Atlantic, from southern Florida throughout the Caribbean islands down to northern Brazil. Found on shallow rocky coral reefs.

Taxonomy: Member of the family Turbinidae, also classified as Lithopoma caelatum. Features a very strong, heavily sculpted conical shell with ridges and spinose nodules, measuring 4-6 cm in width. Grows to 5 cm.

Social Behavior: Peaceful, diligent, and strictly herbivorous. Spends its time crawling over rocky surfaces, scraping them clean. Cannot easily right itself if it falls upside down on loose sand.

Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: Shell color is off-white, light grey, or greenish, often overgrown with coralline algae or encrustations which aid in camouflage. The interior is white porcelain. No visible sexual dimorphism.

Tank Setup: Suitable for reef aquariums of 15 gallons or larger. Requires stable live rock formations with ample surface area for grazing. Avoid open sand expanses where it could get stuck.

Diet and Feeding: Strictly herbivorous. Consumes green hair algae, diatoms, cyanobacteria, and film algae. Supplement with dried seaweed (nori) if natural algae resources are depleted.

Water Quality: Stable reef parameters. Salinity SG 1.021-1.025, pH 8.1-8.4, temperature 22-28°C. Highly sensitive to copper treatments and sudden osmotic shocks.

Compatibility and Tankmates: 100% reef-safe. Excellent member of the clean-up crew (CUC). Compatible with peaceful fish and corals. May be preyed upon by larger hermit crabs.

Aquarium Breeding: Broadcast spawner. Reproduction in home aquariums is extremely rare as pelagic larvae do not survive standard filtration systems.

Risks and Diseases: Starvation in overly clean aquariums. Death from being flipped over on sand; must be manually turned upright. Shell erosion in aquariums with low pH.