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FAQs about Non-Vertebrate Animal Identification
36 Related Articles:
Marine Invertebrates, Marine
Invertebrate Systems, Marine
Invertebrate Compatibility, Marine
Invertebrate Disease, Marine
Invertebrate Reproduction,
Quarantine of Corals and Invertebrates,
Feeding Reef Invertebrates,
Lighting Marine Invertebrates,
Water Flow, How Much is Enough,
Related FAQs: Non-Vert IDs 1,
Non-Vert IDs 2, Non-Vert IDs 3,
Non-Vert IDs 4, Non-Vert IDs 5,
Non-Vert IDs 6,
Non-Vert IDs 7, Non-Vert
IDs 8,
Non-Vert IDs 9,
Non-Vert IDs 10, Non-Vert IDs 11,
Non-Vert IDs 12, Non-Vert IDs 13,
Non-Vert IDs 14, Non-Vert IDs 15,
Non-Vert IDs 16, Non-Vert IDs 17,
Non-Vert IDs 18, Non-Vert. ID 19,
Non-Vert. ID 20, Non-Vert. ID 21,
Non-Vert. ID 22, Non-Vert. ID 23,
Non-Vert. ID 25, Non-Vert ID 26,
Non-Vert ID 27, Non-Vert ID 28,
Non-Vert ID 29, Non-Vert ID 30,
Non-Vert ID 31, Non-Vert ID 32,
Non-Vert 33, Non-Vert ID 34
Non-Vert ID 35, Non-Vert ID 37,
Non-Vert ID 38, Non-Vert ID 39,
Non-Vert ID 40, Non-Vert ID 41,
Non-Vert ID 42, & Marine Invertebrates,
Marine Invert.s 2, Marine Invert.s 3,
& FAQs about: Marine Invertebrate
Behavior, Marine Invertebrate
Compatibility, Marine Invertebrate
Selection, Marine Invertebrate
Systems, Feeding Reef Invertebrates,
Marine Invertebrate Disease,
Marine Invertebrate Reproduction, &
& LR Life
Identification, LR Hitchhiker ID 1,
Anemone Identification,
Aiptasia Identification, Aiptasia ID
2, Worm Identification,
Tubeworm ID, Polychaete
Identification, Snail Identification,
Marine Crab Identification, Marine
Invert.s 1, Marine Invert.s 2,
Marine Plankton, |
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Strange hitch hiker... not strange... tubeworms, sponge, SW& 6/19/08
Hello crew,
Thank you for all your helpful advice I have learned so
much from your website. I have a question about a hitch hiker in my
tank. I bought some Chaetomorpha algae and put it in my two in-tank
refugiums. I now have tube like worms growing on the glass around the
refugiums and attached to the refugiums. They are white and grow out in
a tube shape. They remind me of the siphon tube on a Nassarius snail. It
appears to have a mouth at the end and it attaches to the glass with
"branches" or "feet". They appeared very quickly and in large amounts. I
have the tube worms with the hard shell that appear as tiny swirls on
the glass and its not those. I reviewed all the worm questions and did
not see a picture. It does not look like the pictures of aiptasia or
hydroids that I have seen. If you could help in anyway I would be very
appreciative.
<It's really hard to say without a picture, but my
*guess* from your description would be some kind of sponge.>
My tank
is a 57 gallon tall, Aqua Clear 70 filter, heater set at 77F, about 10
pounds of live rock, two seahorses, a skunk cleaner, one harlequin
shrimp, two chocolate chip sea stars (one being eaten and one in the
refugium for later), one feather duster, a toadstool leather coral, and
several hermit crabs and snails. My tests are Ammonia-0, Nitite-10,
Nitrate-0, PH-8.3. The only thing recently added was "reef bugs" and
liquid calcium by Kent.
Thank You for any help with this. I will try
and get a picture but any ideas to look up would be great.
<It
sounds like a sponge, but who knows? I'll likely be able to help you a
lot more if you can send in a photo. :-)
Best,
Sara M.>
Pest or pleasant? Stomatellids - 6/13/08
Hello experts
<I'm as much an 'expert' here as I am a Tang! But
happy to help...>
In our 550L Reef tank we have discovered this
creature: is it a friendly Chiton or a snail pest?
<Neither! This
is a stomatellid snail. These little chaps are tremendous algae
eaters, besides being fun to watch. They'll grow and reproduce in
your aquarium as well, provided conditions remain favorable.>
It's body is much bigger than is small, rather flat shell. OR. Am I
looking two different animals??
<Nope, just one. Enjoy!>
Kind
regards
<The same!>
Clive Rabson
<Benjamin> | 
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Bizarre Creature Identification 6/9/08
Good Morning Crew,
<Good evening Toni, Mich with you tonight.>
My fiancé' and I are new
to saltwater aquariums and we are very excited about our new found
hobby.
<Welcome to the briny world.>
He loves to sit and watch for
what seems to be hours on end! He reads a lot about things on the
Internet and we stumbled across your site. It's truly a God send!
<Glad you have found it helpful.>
We have a question. We acquired
this very strange live shell, from the coast near Corpus Christi.
<OK.>
It looks like a million individual mouths that continuously
open and close. They each have a feather like tongue that they stick out
each time they open their mouth. The tongues resemble feather dusters,
but the look like little feather claws that the creature waves around
before it draws it back in. It is so strange that its kinda creepy. I
have attached a picture. Can you identify it?
<Hard to tell from the
picture, but your description sounds like a barnacle.>
I've Googled
everything I can think of, but no luck. We have a 25 gallon tank. It's
still fairly new, maybe a month 1/2 old the water levels are holding at
the levels the pet shop says they should
<Best not to rely solely on
the pet shop. Please educate yourselves. Perhaps do some reading on our
site.>
and it doesn't seem to be negatively affecting anything. We
have a Peppermint shrimp, damsel, a goby, and several pounds of live
rock.
<You have a very small system, please read and be careful of
how much more livestock you introduce.>
There also seems to be
another creature that rode along with it. It isn't very clear in the
pic,
<Mmm, I'm not seeing it in the pic, sorry.>
but it is small
and bluish. It seems to have some sort of tentacles and it came from the
shell and has now attached itself to the live rock. We thought it was a
sponge or coral or something, but now I am convinced its an animal.
<Actually sponges and corals are animals.>
Any ideas on what this
might be?
<Mmm, possibly an aiptasia or anemone of some sort, but is
really a guess at best.>
I am concerned because these were not store
bought. Are they dangerous?
<The barnacle is not, though they
typically don't live long in captivity.>
Please help! I'm going crazy
trying to figure this out! Sorry for the poor quality pictures.
<Yeah, not the best, next time try using the macro feature on your
camera.>
How are others getting such great pictures of the life
inside their tanks?
<Use the macro setting, usually looks has a
symbol that looks like a flower, typically a daisy.>
You can barely
see the bluish-purple creature its on the left at the bottom of the
rock, but it looks like some sort of soft bodied snail like thing with
short blue spiky looking tentacles one end of its body.
<That sounds
like a Nudibranch, but if it is relatively stationary it is likely not.>
The rest of it looks textured with little bumps, but not tentacles.
<Definitely look for the macro setting and if you can get a better image
please feel free to send it in. I will gladly try to help you figure out
your mystery creatures!
Cheers,
Mich>
Toni McCrary |  
Barnacles...
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Question, ID, no
images 6/5/08
Hi WWM Crew,
I have found each answer you
have provided to others very helpful and use your site often! This
particular "creature ID" I was not successful
in finding any insight
on and was hoping you would help me to the best of your knowledge!?
<Is my habit>
In this particular saltwater set up I house a Snowflake
Eel, Damsel, Niger Trigger, Chocolate Chip Starfish, 2 Pencil Urchins,
and several
Crown Conches... and the unknowns!
<Mmm, do keep an
eye on the Odonus... may well sample the invertebrates here>
The
"unknowns" I speak of are flat white disk looking things that are
suctioned onto the glass by a clear plate like suction cup. They stick
straight out from the sides of the tank. I also noticed that there are
many more of them along the side of a rock and they are all lined up
evenly spaced. They are about the size of a nickel and do not seem to
move anywhere.
I only have base rock in this tank, no live rock so
I'm not sure where they came from!
If you could help provide some
ideas for me as to what these are I would greatly appreciate it!
Regards,
Amy
<Mmm, really need photos... perhaps these discs are
Ascidian colonies... see WWM, the Net for pix... Bob Fenner>
Mystery Thing…Holothurid? – 06/05/08
Good evening!
<<Morning
now…Hello!>>
I have a mystery guest in my 40 gal. reef tank that I
can't find an I.D. for.
<<Oh?>>
I found it on the glass yesterday.
It is about an inch long stretched out, purplish in color and covered in
what look like tube feet.
<<Hmm…>>
It also had about five
antennae-like things coming off of what I think is the front, but if I
get too close they retract.
<<From your description, this sounds like
a species of filter-feeding Holothurid …a Sea Cucumber>>
I am
attaching picture I took, I tried to zoom in and crop it, but I'm not
sure if it worked.
<<There was no picture with this email>>
I saw
one of these creatures at Petco once, and was so curious what it was
they let me have it, but when I put it in our tank it immediately
shriveled up and floated under a rock.
<<Typical…easily swept away by
water motion unless given an opportunity to attach itself first>>
Could it be a type of sea cucumber?
<<That’s what I’m thinking, yes>>
I can't seem to find anything like it on your site.
<<Though it may
differ in color, have a look at the examples here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/seacukes.htm >>
Any ideas as to what it
is?
<<As stated…>>
Thanks for your help,
Amanda
<<Quite
welcome. Enjoy this animal while it is around…they generally don’t do
well in captive systems unless of some size and supported by a plankton
generating refugium. But do check out the links at the top of the
article page on Cucumber systems and feeding. Regards, EricR>>
Sedentariate Polychaete ID 6/4/08
Quick question
- I noticed on the back wall of my tank there is white spiral? It
looks like a @, well more circular. Like you drew a perfect circle
then went around the original circle two more times or so? Any
ideas? It almost looks like ring worm? Should I be worried?
Tank
info below...
<Read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/featheridfaqs.htm
Bob Fenner>
Re: What went wrong!? Invert. ID – 6/4/08
I didn't see
anything that came close to what I was talking about below.
This
is what it looks like exactly but it is white.
<Ahh, perhaps a
reproductive event... mollusks... BobF>
Re: What went wrong!?
Found my answer here ------)
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/seaslugrepro.htm
Thanks!
<Ahh yes!
BobF, who has a friend with your last name here in San Diego...
JoeC>
Re: What went wrong!?
Joe Curry huh.....maybe
a distant relative, is he rich?
<Heeee! Lives in a nice
neighborhood...>
JK, thanks for all your guys help!
<Welcome
John. BobF> | 
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Unidentified organism 6/4/08
Hi there,
I have had a 300
gallon set up for almost a year now; I have added a deep sand bed of
about 5 inches some cured base rock that is coming along nicely.&I have
added hermits and snail, along with two fish awhile back. I have
two rapids pro filter/skimmers. Water parameters are great.
I have&had no problems at all.&I have noticed that there is a lot of
small bristle worms. Now i have noticed these clear long web type
of organism. Having a close look along these long strands that are
mainly on the walls, but have noticed they are on the rock and
hermit crab shells as well. They have hydra type heads along the
strings and are branchy almost like a web or varicose veins. I
assume it is a hydroid, all help appreciated, thanks!
<Impossible to
tell from this desc.... please send along a pic... well-resolved... Bob
Fenner>
What is this plant or animal ?? 5/29/08
Hello Crew !
<Lisa>
I purchased this item for my salt water
reef tank because I thought it was really cool looking. But the
people at the fish store did not seem to know what it was.. In quote
he said it was more plant than animal??? I am curios if any of you
might have a better answer for me.
The picture is not real clear,
I tried to get a better one to no avail. it is creamy in color, soft
to the touch and forms crystals at its base and underside as well as
a few erupting from the top spongy parts, I can pull them out with
ease kinda like pulling a splinter out. pulling them out does not
seem to affect it at all. The crystals are small about 2ml long and
whitish. They seem to fall off the underside and collect underneath.
<Crystals... I was going to guess this was some sort of Soft Coral
of the Family Alcyoniidae: http://wetwebmedia.com/alcyoniidsii.htm
but now... am pretty sure it's a Sponge of some sort... the
crystals>
Thanks for any input you might have.
Lisa the
curious
<I'd just keep removing bits of it if it's growing too
much... keep it isolated on the few rocks it's spread to. Bob
Fenner>
Re: What is this plant or animal ??
5/29/08
Thanks
Bob,
You mentioned to keep it isolated on the rock it is on, did
you say this because could it be damaging to my reef or just
overtake it.
Lisa
<Mmm, kind of both... some sponges (not all)
have proven to be "aggressive" chemically, physically... best to
"keep them isolated"... or is that lyric "You gotta keep 'em
separated"? BobF> | 
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What's this? Need more information - 5/25/08
Hi
<Hi Sue,
Lynn here this morning!>
I have a newly established marine aquarium
and I'd like to know if I have a feather duster forming. I took pics but
you'd never see it because they were bad quality, sorry.
<Yep, small
subjects can be a real challenge to photograph. You might check to see
if your camera has a "Macro" mode. It's usually represented as a small
flower icon (like a Daisy), either on a button or within the menu mode
of the camera.>
It's growing off the live rock, clear with a black
sort of spot about a third of the way from the top. It's very small at
the moment and I wondered how feather duster worms actually form.
<It depends. There are many, many different types of what's commonly
called a feather duster. Please see these links for more information:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/feather.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/invert.htm >
I've
researched this but can't find one at such a small stage.
<How small
is it - in inches or mm? Do you see a tube or feathery crown at all? I'm
sorry Sue, but I just don't have enough information to go on. The good
news is that what you're seeing is most likely harmless. Just keep an
eye on it and if you're ever able to get a good photo, please send it
along!>
Regards
Sue xx
<Take care, -Lynn>
Freshwater Amphipods? – 05/21/2008
Hi,
<Hello Adam.>
I was wondering if you guys could help me
identify these little critters.
<Sure will try.>
They came in
a shipment of feeder goldfish, possibly originating from Florida.
For all intents and purposes, they look like brine shrimp crossed
with clams. When they get scared, they close up in a bivalve-esque
fashion and just look like little clams. But they will also swim
around like little brine shrimp, and obviously have legs and eyes
and antennae.
<These are Ostracods aka Seed Shrimps. They are
one (or possibly several) group(s) of Crustaceans with clam like
shells. A internet search for Ostracods will bring up a lot of
interesting facts, e.g.
http://w3.gre.ac.uk/schools/nri/earth/ostracod/introduction.htm.>
They don't seem to bother anything, so I assume they are filter
feeders. Thanks! ~Adam
<They are most likely beneficial
creatures, only very few are parasites, most feed on detritus and
decaying plants and animals, a few are predators. Ostracods are
often used as fish food. Cheers, Marco.> |   <Cool!!
-Sara M.> |
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