Breeding the Mexican Turbo Snail (Turbo fluctuosa)

Turbo fluctuosa is an eastern Pacific turban snail with separate sexes and free-swimming planktonic larvae. It is essentially never bred in home reef aquaria and is supplied as wild-caught algae grazers.

Overview

Turbo fluctuosus (Wood, 1828), often listed in the trade as Turbo fluctuosa, is a marine turban snail of the family Turbinidae. The shell reaches roughly 25-86 mm in length. The species occurs in the eastern Pacific from the Baja California peninsula south to Peru and around the Galapagos archipelago. In aquaria it is kept as a heavy-shelled grazer that scrapes film and hair algae from rock and glass.

Sexing

Members of the Turbinidae are gonochoristic, meaning each animal is either male or female, but the sexes cannot be told apart by shell or external appearance. Sex is normally confirmed only by dissection of the gonad, which is not practical for aquarium keepers.

Spawning & Larvae

Reproduction in vetigastropod turban snails is by broadcast spawning: males and females release sperm and eggs into the water column where fertilization is external. Embryos develop first into a free-swimming trochophore and then into a planktonic veliger larva that drifts and feeds before settling and metamorphosing into a juvenile snail.

Common Challenges

• The tiny planktonic veligers are removed by mechanical filters, protein skimmers and pump intakes within a closed system.
• Sexes are external-fertilizing broadcasters, so controlled pairing is not possible in a display tank.
• Larvae require a continuous supply of suitable planktonic food and stable conditions that home systems do not provide.
• Turbo fluctuosa prefers cooler water than most tropical reefs, narrowing the conditions a keeper can offer.