Neritina virginea

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Virgin Nerite

Range: Western Atlantic Ocean: Caribbean, Bahamas, Bermuda, Gulf of Mexico, West Indies to Brazil.

Size: 1 inch (2.5 cm)

Natural Environment: Inhabits rocky shorelines, tidepools, mud flats.

General Husbandry: Occasionally seen in the aquarium trade.

An extremely good scavenger of various types of algae, including filamentous, cyanobacteria, diatoms and film algae. Also long lasting and do not harmed any creatures they travel over. Does not need any special care or feeding, yet sensitive to salinity changes, as they are very shallow intertidal water creatures, so initially acclimate as noted below. A great scavenger and one of the more useful aquarium creatures! Excellent rock cleaners!

May occasionally crawl above the waterline, but since they carry some water in their shell, the exposure to air does not harm them. In fact, they are sometimes exposed at low water levels in the wild without being harmed. Yet should you find them on the floor, just place them back in the aquarium!

Should their supply of algae become insufficient, it's time to provide them some vegetable-based tablet foods/dried seaweed/Nori. Recommend having at least one per five gallons!

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Gastropoda

Order: Cycloneritimorpha

Family: Neritidae

Genus: Nerita

FYI: Has a short life span of about one year.

Has variable color patterns with gray, orange, purple, black, white and also forming checkered patterns or forms with stripes.

May be sold as 'Assorted Nerites.'

Experience Level: Beginner

Diet: Herbivore

Temperament: Peaceful

Aquarium Environment: Reef or fish-only aquarium

Coral Safe: Yes

Fish Safe: Yes

Invertebrate Safe: Yes

Acclimation Time: Sensitive to specific gravity/salinity changes, therefore be sure to adjust the bag's water to that of the aquarium in which it will be placed by slowly adding small amounts of aquarium water to the bag every few minutes. In most cases, this process should take at least 15 minutes.

Aquarium Hardiness: Moderately hardy

Temperature Range: 68 - 79°F (20 - 26°C)

Minimum Tank Size: 20 gallons

Water Movement: WM 1 - 2

Specific Gravity: 1.023 - 1.025

pH: 8.0 - 8.4