Description
Pearly Marginella Snails, also known as Glowing Marginella Snails, are small, sand-dwelling scavengers that specialize in cleaning where other snails don’t. Rather than grazing rock or glass, they spend much of their time beneath the surface of the sand bed, consuming leftover food, detritus, and biofilm that accumulates out of sight. They often emerge when food is available, then disappear back into the sand once they’re done.
In the wild, Marginellas live buried in coastal sands and seagrass flats. In aquariums, they gently move through the top layer of substrate, lightly aerating the sand without churning it or pulling up planted macroalgae. They’re subtle workers and won’t bulldoze aquascapes the way larger burrowing species can.
We collect several naturally occurring Florida Prunum species, so shell color and pattern will vary. Most individuals are very small, typically around .25 - .5 inch, making them an excellent choice for nano tanks, large tanks with shallow sand beds, and refugiums.
Marginella snails are completely reef safe and peaceful, but they are not algae grazers. For nuisance algae control, they pair well with Nerites for film algae and glass, Ceriths for mixed sand and surface cleaning, and Astreas for rock and hard surfaces.
To keep them comfortable during shipping, Marginella snails are packed with damp materials rather than submerged. This reflects how they naturally live and helps reduce stress during transit.
