Zebra Nerite Neritina/(Vittina) turrita
The Zebra Nerite, also called the Turreted Nerite, is a fresh- and brackish water snail native to tidal estuaries
and mangrove swamps of the Indo-westPacific including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Japan and Vietnam. It has a gold-coloured shell with
black stripes of varying width, some very narrow, some quite wide bands. It grows to 2.5cm long, lives on hard substrate or rock
(doesn't burrow) and rasps algae from rocks. Larvae survive only in brackish water.
Tiger (left) and Zebra Nerites.
Zebra Nerite with Auger Snail.
Zebra Nerite with Mangrove Crab (Pseudosesarma moeschi).
The Zebra Nerite, N./V. turrita, is sometimes confused with the nerite N./V. coromandeliana of Indonesia and
the Philippines and with the Tiger Nerite of the same region, also called Orange Track Nerite and Ruby Onion Snail N./V. semiconica and the
Spotted Nerite, N. natalensis of eastern and southern Africa.