Id of hitchhiker 1/3/09 I have been keeping saltwater tank's for almost four years now. After I started I found this great site. Any problems have been taking care of thanks to you. My tank's are 75 gals reef , 55 gal seahorse , 5 gal dwarf seahorse . All test show 0 except for nitrates that are about 20 . I found this about two years ago .It was so small that I had to use a magnify glass to see what it looked like .It is now about 1inch long the half shell on top that is . I have looked at slugs ,snails , and anything else I could think of but could not find . Thank you and happy new year. <Looks like a juvenile Haliotis sp. gastropod of some sort, the sea snails commonly called "abalones" or "ear-shells". What you should see is that the shell is flat like a dish but coils over to one side when viewed from above, and on the side away from the coil you'll see a row of small openings running from the helix all the way to the front of the shell. Your photo is of the side with the coil, so I can't see those openings. Adult Haliotis spp. at least are almost entirely herbivorous, feeding on different types of green and red algae. Since yours is growing and is unlikely to be doing any harm to your other marine life, I think you can sit back and enjoy this rather fascinating snail. For more, see here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/abalones.htm Cheers, Neale.> <<Mmm, is a Trochid... that looks like, is most often listed as a limpet... likely of the genus Stomatella. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/MolluscPIX/Gastropods/Prosobranch%20PIX/Limpets%20Scutus/LimpetF1.htm BobF>>

More re: Id of hitchhiker 1/3/09 Hi Bob. You may well be correct. The shell looked distinctly asymmetrical to me, hence plumping for Haliotis. I wasn't aware that there were any flat shelled Trochids, but Stomatella does indeed appear to be one such beast. Obviously a view from the side away from the spiral would have show (or not) the gill openings, and clinched the deal! Cheers, Neale.> "<<Mmm, is a Trochid... that looks like, is most often listed as a limpet... likely of the genus Stomatella. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/MolluscPIX/Gastropods/Prosobranch%20PIX/Limpets%20Scutus/LimpetF1.htm BobF>>" <Another point of divergence, asking if you will... For so many organisms, groups we deal with... the use of the more "common" names and higher tax. for findings sake... Here, should I/we put Stomatella "in" with the Trochidae, or place (as I have) with the Limpets... as they are commonly "found" in hobby lit.? B>

Re: More re: Id of hitchhiker 1/3/09 Thank you for the id . I first thought it was an Abalone but as it did not have holes along the side . I never thought to look at Limpets cause I only heard of keyhole limpets . As this did not have a hole on top . After looking over your Limpets page and doing a Google search on them . I do have a Limpet . thanks for everything and this great site . <Mmm, again... this is actually a Snail... a member of the family Trochidae... Is called a limpet due to its flattened appearance I guess. Cheers! BobF>

Loud gulf toadfish Opsanus beta 12/13/08 Hello, my name is Desha. I have a 6-month-old, 75 gallon saltwater tank that I have stocked exclusively with finds that I have acquired, mainly by catching them in my cast net, from the pier half a mile from my house on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. <Neat!> I have done lots and lots of research in the past 9 months or so and have very often found information on your site that I could find nowhere else. Thank you guys for that. Hopefully you can find the time to answer a couple of questions for me. I am attaching pictures that may be useful. Please let me know if you have any problems with the attachments or if perhaps I could take a picture from a different angle or something that may help. <Okay> The pride and joy of my tank is my 8-inch long gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta. I also have an amazing anemone that was caught on my pier by a friend of mine. It is attached to a hermit crab shell. (He brought it to me saying what an amazing soft shell hermit crab he had found but when it was put in the water the anemone opened and revealed the reason for the "soft shell." The crab had only 1 eye and died within 12 hours but the anemone seems to be well and happy.) I also have a striped hermit crab, 2 small Popeye mullets, a few grass shrimp and half a dozen snails. Until a couple of weeks ago, I also had a beautiful little sea robin but he fell victim to the toadfish. <Are "big eaters"> My first question is about the snails. Three nights ago they began laying eggs on my aquarium glass and have been doing this off and on ever since. The thing is, I have no idea what kind of snails these are and none of the pictures that I have found of snail eggs look like mine. They look a little like short, thick, white hairs growing on the grass. I would like to figure out the gestation period and the likelihood that I will have little snail babies soon and whether I will need to provide some sort of special food if they do hatch. Perhaps you know some of these things or can give me a bit of a clue as to what kind of snail this is so that I can do some further research. <Mmm, would like some other pix to compare... Southern Oyster Drills (Stramonita haemastoma)> My other question involves my toadfish. For about a week now I have been hearing a loud noise from the aquarium at all hours of the day and night. It is literally loud enough that it wakes me up. It sounds like a cell phone vibrating in a dresser drawer. At first I thought it was a powerhead malfunctioning and finally have realized is my fish. I have heard the sound of the toadfish played online and I am certain it is him but I am surprised. I was aware that the toadfish made sounds but I had been under the impression that it was unlikely for one to vocalize in captivity. Is this uncommon? <Not uncommon> Also, as I understand it, this is a mating call. So does he need a mate? <Mmm, not really... Likely to fight in too small a space> Will he ever give up and quit calling for one? He calls every 5 to 25 minutes around the clock. >Heeee! Are loud for sure< Thank you guys for everything. You have a wonderful site. Thanks again, Desha <Thank you for sharing your experiences, commentary. Bob Fenner>

Identify- Fleshy Slug AKA Fleshy Limpet 10/22/08 Hello crew... <Hello Jessy here> I am baffled by this ...shall I say....shell-less slug?? It moves all over the tank sometimes on the glass but usually on the rockwork. The first picture is very grainy but I wanted you to see it from the front also and this was the best I had. Thanks in advance for the help. <Donna, by my estimation that is a fleshy limpet. See here for further ID http://www.melevsreef.com/id/fleshy_limpet.html> Regards, Donna
<Regards, Jessy>

Critter Ids -- 10/09/08 Good Afternoon, <Good morning.> I have just a few questions that I cant seem to find an answer to. First all the pertinent info, the tank is 90 gal with 2-250w 14k HQI bulbs and 4 65w actinic CF. with a 30 gal sump. The water parameters are as follows. Salinity-1.024, Ammonia-0, Nitrate-0, Nitrite-0, Phosphate-0, Alk-8, Cal-480, Temp 77 day 75 night. Okay here are the questions I recently re-arranged some rock to provide better water circulation and I found this weird spiky egg looking thing. It is approx. 2'' in a egg shape. Its kind of hard to see the little spikes in the pic but they are there. <A sponge. See here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/spongeidfaq2.htm and the other FAQs.> The other "thing" in question is this little tube like worm growing on the side of my hammer coral. It appears to be a pinkish tube with a black worm inside. It sends out a long string of mucus which traps stuff then sucks it back in. I read the other post on this but there were no pics. The pic that I have is not the best as I would have to disassemble quite a bit to get a great pic of it but if you look in between the two heads you will see the little black creature with the two "pincher's?" and the mucus trail. <A Vermetid snail (worm snail, a sessile gastropod). Another harmless animal, only in few cases with thousands of individuals they apparently somewhat irritated corals with their mucus nets See http://www.wetwebmedia.com/snailidfaq7.htm and do a WWM/Net search on Vermetid.> Just curious if either of these little creatures are anything to be worried about? <Absolutely harmless. Enjoy them.> Thxs, Kris. <Welcome. Marco.> <<Spot on, as usual Marco. RMF>>