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[Goby Angyl]

I found what I think might be a tiny xanthid crab in my tank, but I haven't found one that looks quite like this yet. Maybe it's just too young to properly identify.

 

Its carapace is little more than 1/2cm and it lives in the holes/tunnels in the rock my clove polyps are colonizing. I always know where to look, but size and location makes catching it more work than it's worth at this time...

 

I managed to feed it a flake the other day to get it where I could see it more clearly and it looks like I might be able to tame it through spot feeding to make catching easier in the future.

 

It's a deep reddish brown with smallish claws that are the same size and thin, long arms. Not as long or thin as an arrow crabs, but definitely not the thick, heavy arms and claws of a rock crab. And it's smooth, no bumps, hairs or texture of any kind on the arms or carapace. I didn't see the sides of its carapace coming to points; the sides looked rounded from what I could see. I couldn't tell if there was a pattern on the lower legs or the eyes, but the arms are solid colored with the claws fading to an off white at the tips and I think the carapace is solid too.

 

EDIT: It's legs are banded and hairy and it's color is more brownish than reddish and its eyes are striped.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Goby Angyl

[lei-ann]

Hey there!

I have an Innovative Marine 16 thats been set up for about 2 months now. I got this trumpet as one of the first corals. I had a water issue (high alk) but thats been resolved and everything except this guy is doing great! Only 1 head was alive when I got him and now it looks like I may lose him totally. The little white bubbly things on him look like these spirorbis you mentioned, but im not sure. I know theres also a small bubble algea on it. Help?!

 

Spirorbis: HARMLESS

Tiny while calcareous worms, that mostly will develop in the dark areas. Filter feeders and a sign your tank is doing well, very common.

[eitallent]

OOPS! It was a flat piece of shell stuck to the stem. Whew!

 

This looks like a white tick on this Capnella. It seems stuck there and has not moved. Is it a parasitic marine isopod? If it is, how is it best to annihilate?

Edited September 8, 2012 by eitallent

[patback]

I have no idea what it is, but cut it off with a razor blade.

[eitallent]

I have no idea what it is, but cut it off with a razor blade.

False alarm. When I tried to remove the "parasite" it fell off into the container. It was then plain to see that it was a fragment of a shell that looked segmented, oval and seemed embedded in the trunk because of the shallow curvature.

[Rrudo74901]

Saw this poking out of a hole in the base of a hammer this morning.

Any ideas what it is?

 

[lakshwadeep]

Brittle star legs

[Fence13]

I've seen a couple of these on some of my live rock. Their tentacles are more like the coral polyps that I have and not like the aptasia anemone's. Are they aptasia? or something else?

[lakshwadeep]

Looks like Pseudocorynactis, ball anemones, a group of Corallimorpharians related to mushrooms. Most individuals stay fairly small and are generally not threats. They won't multiply like Aiptasia.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/10/inverts

 

edit: As metrokat indicated, it's some type of LPS (large polyp stony coral) due to the calified skeleton visible below the polyp. The lack of pigments may indicated something non-photosynthetic.

Edited December 21, 2012 by lakshwadeep

[Nematocyte]

I've seen a couple of these on some of my live rock. Their tentacles are more like the coral polyps that I have and not like the aptasia anemone's. Are they aptasia? or something else?

 

Ball anemones. Pseudocorynactis.

 

They are cool and generally harmless in my experience.

Be warned though.

 

The white balls are actually spheroidal batteries of Nematocysts known as

Acrospheres. The Acrospheres are sticky and generally not harmful to you.

However if you permit a large acrosphere to come into contact with very thin

skin like the skin under your wrist just below the palm you may experience

a sting that somewhat feels like a minor steam burn.

 

This has been my experience anyway. i would like to know what other

peoples experiences are with acrosphere contact.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Nematocyte

[ciaobella]

Looked all around cant find a similar picture. Just noticed these today kinda looks like a lettuce slug?? Out of no where I count 5 in my tank some small and clearish yellow in color, the picture is the biggest who is yellow with white on the edge. Harmful? There seems to be a small colony growing

[lakshwadeep]

It at least doesn't look like a coral predator (they usually have tentacle shapes mimicking their prey).

[ciaobella]

It at least doesn't look like a coral predator (they usually have tentacle shapes mimicking their prey).

 

Thats what I was thinking but nobody has idea of what it is?

[ciaobella]

Ok so bored at work and beeing doing some research and it looks like this could be it a Elysia clarki

http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/elysclar

http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4484

http://www.seaslugforum.net/message/4019

Makes sense since some are native to florida keys. I live in Florida and I know my LFS gets stock from local waters. Really good forum posts above! Looks like I have a bunch of healthy baby slugs!

Edited December 18, 2012 by ciaobella

[patback]

Awesome! Supplemental feeding is important!

[ciaobella]

Awesome! Supplemental feeding is important![/quote

 

"Both E. crispata and E. clarki retain living chloroplasts which continue to photosynthesise within the body of the sea slug, providing it with sugars for its own nutrition. See the page on Solar powered sea slugs

 for further information. The process of taking chloroplasts from algal cells and keeping them has been given the name *kleptoplasty*

E. clarki has lecithotrophic larval development [non-feeding planktonic larvae] with veliger larvae metamorphosing into juvenile slugs after about 5 days. Extensive feeding experiments (Curtis et al. 2004) have found the juveniles will eat Bryopsis plumosa  and Derbesia tenuissima [but not Caulerpa verticillata  as reported by Jensen (1980)]. The length of the life cycle is unknown, but Pierce's lab have raised E. clarki from eggs in the laboratory that are still alive after 22 months and have not yet reproduced.

Molecular and microscopic evidence indicates that adult E. clarki feeds on and sequesters chloroplasts from Penicillus capitatus, P. lamourouxii, Halimeda incrassata and H. monile in the field and will survive for as long as two years in the laboratory on Bryopsis plumosa (Curtis et al. in press)."

 

Anyone translate into lymans terms?

Edited December 18, 2012 by ciaobella

[lakshwadeep]

Anyone translate into lymans terms?

 

Chloroplasts are organelles (subunits found within cells) green algae and higher plants, and they are the locations of photosynthesis, light-powered food generation. Normally, chloroplasts get destroyed when eaten by herbivores, so this kleptoplasty is very unique, suggesting that the slugs (sacoglossans) can survive much longer without feeding since the chloroplasts provide some food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacoglossa

 

The second paragraph just describes the life cycle, indicating that Bryopsis and Derbesia, two types of filamentous (hair) algae, are possible foods. These are also common nuisance algae in tanks. Pencillus and Halimeda are two types of calcified algae ("shaving brush" and "cactus" algae, respectively) found in the wild (and often in Florida live rock or sold as ornamental algae). So, it seems like these slugs could be easily grown in hobbyist tanks, especially those with a lot of hair algae, which is interesting.

[iPhone]

Saw this poking out of a hole in the base of a hammer this morning.

Any ideas what it is?

 

spider

[lakshwadeep]

spider

 

no, it is a brittle star.

[metrokat]

no, it is a brittle star.

+1

 

I've seen a couple of these on some of my live rock. Their tentacles are more like the coral polyps that I have and not like the aptasia anemone's. Are they aptasia? or something else?

 

 

Looks like Pseudocorynactis, ball anemones, a group of Corallimorpharians related to mushrooms. Most individuals stay fairly small and are generally not threats. They won't multiply like Aiptasia.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/10/inverts

 

 

Ball anemones. Pseudocorynactis.

 

They are cool and generally harmless in my experience.

Be warned though.

 

The white balls are actually spheroidal batteries of Nematocysts known as

Acrospheres. The Acrospheres are sticky and generally not harmful to you.

However if you permit a large acrosphere to come into contact with very thin

skin like the skin under your wrist just below the palm you may experience

a sting that somewhat feels like a minor steam burn.

 

This has been my experience anyway. i would like to know what other

peoples experiences are with acrosphere contact.

That picture looks like a hidden cup coral to me,not a ball sponge, I have plenty of them myself on my gulf rock.

Edited December 19, 2012 by metrokat

[ciaobella]

Chloroplasts are organelles (subunits found within cells) green algae and higher plants, and they are the locations of photosynthesis, light-powered food generation. Normally, chloroplasts get destroyed when eaten by herbivores, so this kleptoplasty is very unique, suggesting that the slugs (sacoglossans) can survive much longer without feeding since the chloroplasts provide some food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacoglossa

 

The second paragraph just describes the life cycle, indicating that Bryopsis and Derbesia, two types of filamentous (hair) algae, are possible foods. These are also common nuisance algae in tanks. Pencillus and Halimeda are two types of calcified algae ("shaving brush" and "cactus" algae, respectively) found in the wild (and often in Florida live rock or sold as ornamental algae). So, it seems like these slugs could be easily grown in hobbyist tanks, especially those with a lot of hair algae, which is interesting.

 

I knew what chloroplasts were had to think back to bio class! I just didnt know if there was a specific plant or alge they liked. Very cool information. My tank is fairly new and thankfully I dont have any bad outbreaks of alge...yet...I have seen 1-2 tiny bubble alge and small area of cyano that ive scrubbed off. Halimeda I see that stuff washed up on shore all the time at the beach... I looked all night for these little guys and I could not see any of them. I have tons of nooks and crannys so they could be anywhere but I hope my crabs did not eat them Thanks for you help!

[ciaobella]

spider

hahahaha yeah no....

[lakshwadeep]

That picture looks like a hidden cup coral to me,not a ball sponge, I have plenty of them myself on my gulf rock.

 

You're right, it has a hard skeleton.

[Crabcake]

Are you serious about those mantis shrimp?! Crap!

[aprildawnesh]

 

Anyone have any ideas? This was hard to get a good photo of. It is of the underside that was attached to the glass ,fairly fast moving, almost clear with a pinkish coloration on its back. It has antenna, almost tentacles like a squid in the front of its head and moves like a snail or sea slug..possibly a nudibranch? It seems to be interested in the algae on the glass.