Killer snail doesn't only feed on snails

[Marc van Arc]

In my ever continuing battle against MTS-snails I'm now in a stadium that I'm grasping for last straws. Thus, I bought some Anentome helena aka killer snail. They live from other snails, which in my case is exactly what I'm looking for.
Yet I should warn people that - contrary to most other snails - they are also very fond of (nearly hatched Tatia) eggs. Within a couple of hours all wrigglers were eaten, which means as well that the MTS-es are definitely safe for the next couple of days.....

[Mike_Noren]

I'm not surprised. It's easy to underestimate them because they're "just snails", but buccinid snails are as a rule pretty impressive predators and scavengers, and will basically eat any animal protein incapable of running away from them. I've seen a marine whelk eat a sprat whole, slurping it down like a fish-shaped spaghetti. They also have good sense of smell, and are fast (well, for a snail) - an ecologist I know told me a story of how they'd dropped a dead cod on a sandy bottom, and had it covered with hundreds of buccinids in just a few minutes.
It would have surprised me more if Clea (Anentome) helena hadn't attacked those wrigglers.