Any idea what this colorful thing could be?

[Sierra_Bravo]

Watching thread. Congrats on a unique hitchhiker.

 

[Tahoe61]

Beautiful Blasto

 

[HB AL]

Ok, i turned the rock they are on so they face the light now, i noticed the dark stuff that spreads and they sprout from was growing more towards the left one which was getting more light so i think the tissue might like more light since it was spreading more on that side, will keep an eye on em to see if they spread faster and get bigger. If they seem to respond well to more light i think im gonna really amp up the light they get by moving the rock straight under one of the 160's. Gotta admit its the neatest hitchhiker ive ever encountered, hopefully they really take off and start taking over the rock they are on as the orange and green color really pops under even under full white and under full blues are just flat out neon.

 

[HB AL]

Beautiful Blasto

You sound pretty sure, whats telling you that?

 

[Tahoe61]

The tissue and it's shape and form, looks like a Blastomussa to me. Other choices might be Symphyllia, or Acanthophyllia, I do not think it's a Scolymia . Look at images of Blastomussa wellsi and see what you think.

 

[Ghxst]

Fwiw I had a hitch hiker that everyone in my club said was a mushroom. Months past before anyone could tell by a photo but it ended up being a psammocora.

Point is until it's fully grown it will be hard to tell. My money is on blasto, but what ever it is I like it, grats.

 

[HB AL]

So just a quick update, still doing well if not better since turning the rock more towards the light, the encrusting fleshy stuff they sprout from seemed to start growing faster after I turned the rock more towards the light.Just a couple days ago it seems a new one is sprouting towards the top of group coming from the encrusting flesh that they sprout from.

 

[Ghxst]

What is around it at 1,2&3?

 

[Leslie Tabor]

This is so cool! Can't wait to see more about these...they are really beautiful!

 

[Rick Krejci]

Look like blastos to me...see my avatar.

 

[HB AL]

What is around it at 1,2&3?

1 is red coralline algae
2 is the fleshy stuff the spreads on the rocks then those things sprout out from it, a small one is just starting where the green spot is
3 is some bubble algae

 

[HB AL]

Look like blastos to me...see my avatar.

I touched it a while back and felt no hard skeleton.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

I touched it a while back and felt no hard skeleton.

Lol I feel like people don't read the thread before they give you a response. I think you have had to say this 17 times! It is cool that it grows from a black goo...maybe it is some kind of new soft coral, I would love it in my tank!

 

[Rick Krejci]

Lol I feel like people don't read the thread before they give you a response. I think you have had to say this 17 times! It is cool that it grows from a black goo...maybe it is some kind of new soft coral, I would love it in my tank!

You know, just touching it may now allow one to feel the hard skeleton if its thriving and puffy. Mine would flap in the breeze, suggesting a lack of a skeleton. You'd have to push harder to feel it, possibly damaging it.

Sure, it may be a new colorful rare species, but Occam's razor suggests to me that it may not be.

 

[mort]

You know, just touching it may now allow one to feel the hard skeleton if its thriving and puffy. Mine would flap in the breeze, suggesting a lack of a skeleton. You'd have to push harder to feel it, possibly damaging it.

Sure, it may be a new colorful rare species, but Occam's razor suggests to me that it may not be.

I agree it's a blastomussa welsii. They have at least two distinct growth forms like Duncans, a ball type growth and a plating form. We used to see colonies that were vivid turquoise with the same type of growth pattern and it was hard to tell that they had a hard skeleton because they grew on thin plating rocks.

The question I'm more curious about is where did it come from? Any signs of a dead skeleton around it (would look like a collection of thin bicycle wheel type shapes) or was the rock a recent addition? It might has spawned in someone's tank although I've not heard of a blasto sexual reproducing in aquaria.

 

[Ghxst]

What ever it is, an encrusting blasto, survival of a tiny fragment or a blasto baby, I can’t wait to see this grow. That and buying a frag from the OP

It would be awesome to see how it got there and any other observations about it HB!

Awhile back Justin Creable got fungias to encrust. It’s cool to see new stuff happen in our tanks.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

wow! Super cool hitchhiker! Congrats!

 

[HB AL]

I agree it's a blastomussa welsii. They have at least two distinct growth forms like Duncans, a ball type growth and a plating form. We used to see colonies that were vivid turquoise with the same type of growth pattern and it was hard to tell that they had a hard skeleton because they grew on thin plating rocks.

The question I'm more curious about is where did it come from? Any signs of a dead skeleton around it (would look like a collection of thin bicycle wheel type shapes) or was the rock a recent addition? It might has spawned in someone's tank although I've not heard of a blasto sexual reproducing in aquaria.

Where it came from is my big question as well. There is no dead skeleton around it. Some of the rocks I've had for 20+ years, it definetly wasn't on those. One of my lfs has a big container that sells Fiji live rock and in the last year or so I have gotten a few flat pieces out of that tank when I see one that fits. The rock it's growing on is fist size and not one of those, luckily it's growing on a small rock at the top of the tank so I can move it if needed. It does seem to be growing a little quicker since I turned it towards the light a little while back. Right now I'm just happy that whatever it is it's staying alive and slowly growing, hopefully it continues and eventually engulfs the whole rock. Maybe one of my fish pooped it out .

 

[HB AL]

Quick update, heads sprouting quicker now with the move toward more light. The green speck on top from last update is growing up, toward the bottom another one is sprouting and it's growing quicker, behind the acro branch out of pic is another one sprouting. They definetly look like they have a tiny mouth in the center. Don't mind the little passing starfish

 

[Kmsutows]

Definitely looks like a great color variety of blastos