Breeding the Tapestry Turbo Snail (Turbo petholatus)
Turbo petholatus, the Indo-Pacific tapestry turban with a green cat's-eye operculum, has separate sexes and planktonic larvae. It is collected from the wild and is not bred in home reef tanks.
Overview
Turbo petholatus Linnaeus, 1758, the tapestry turban, is a turbinid sea snail with a solid, polished shell 30-100 mm long patterned in brown with dark bands and white blotches. Its operculum is the well-known glossy green 'cat's-eye'. The species ranges from the Red Sea and western Indian Ocean to the western Pacific from Western Australia to southern Queensland. It is kept in reef tanks as an algae grazer.
Sexing
Turban snails have separate sexes, but males and females of Turbo petholatus are externally identical; neither shell pattern nor the green operculum indicates sex. Reliable sexing requires examining the gonad, which is impractical for hobbyists.
Spawning & Larvae
Like other vetigastropods, Turbo petholatus reproduces by releasing gametes into open water, where fertilization is external. The fertilized egg becomes a swimming trochophore, then a planktonic veliger that feeds and disperses in the water column before settling and metamorphosing into a juvenile.
Common Challenges
- Free-floating veligers are drawn into skimmers, filters and pumps in a closed tank.
- External fertilization in open water makes deliberate pairing impossible in a display.
- Planktonic larvae need specialised live food and a dedicated larval system unavailable to most keepers.
- Settlement cues from natural reef substrate are absent in a typical aquarium.