Clam eats snail?

[typemismatch]

Yup you read that correctly.

My maximus clam has a large snail attached underneath but there is no longer a snail in the shell. It's got some snail looking goop going into the clam and I can't remove it but I don't see a snail and the clam seems ok.

Did the snail jump ship? and the clam is going to go bye bye?

Feels like monday...

 

[camellia]

If the clam really did eat it, it should be fine. Keep an eye out, it will poop most back out.

 

[jennm]

Hmmm.... there are some clam-eating snails. Pyramid snails. Clams are filter feeders, they can't eat meaty food like a whole snail.

Now, it's possible that the clam attached itself to an empty random snail shell. "Large" says "Turbo snail" to me - or similar.

However, snail poop concerns me. Snails don't bail out of their shells, they are attached to them, and if there's no snail in the shell, it's dead and gone.

However if you're seeing what looks like snail poop, it's possible that you have pyramid snails in/on your clam and that is bad news. They eat the clam slowly. Pyramid snails are tiny, and they burrow into the clam, usually from underneath (again, hence my alarm from your description...) and the clam will survive for a while but then suddenly and completely crash and die.

Google Pyramid Snails and Clam and see what you find.

For your sake I hope that's not what it is but it's worth checking more closely.

Jenn

 

[typemismatch]

yeah let's hope not, I have been watching out for them and so far I do not see any.