Baby anemone ID

[Duncan62]

No, not yet. Pretty sure it’s not majano.

Looked back again at the first pics. Not majano. Does it take food? My baby rfa will snatch a tiny piece of food as it floats by.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

@Rtaylor does it look like any of the ones below when fully open? And do you have any rock from the Keys or the Gulf?

 

[Rtaylor]

@Rtaylor does it look like any of the ones below when fully open? And do you have any rock from the Keys or the Gulf?

The tentacle shape is similar, but there are more of them. It’s also much lighter in color if that’s any indication. It’s currently a beige/pink color. It has started to get more color around the mouth area and has white striations almost like a bta (it’s not a bta). The tentacles do have some stripes/white splotches.

the foot isn’t like that either, it’s smooth with visible verracue the same color as the foot, just darker.

I do have Florida aquacultured rock, but haven’t added any new in over 3 years.

 

[Rtaylor]

@Rtaylor does it look like any of the ones below when fully open? And do you have any rock from the Keys or the Gulf?

It really has a lot of tentacles, you can see in the next 2 pics:

Here you can see around the mouth

here is the foot;

 

[Rtaylor]

Looked back again at the first pics. Not majano. Does it take food? My baby rfa will snatch a tiny piece of food as it floats by.

Yes, it eats like a champ

 

[Duncan62]

Yes, it eats like a champ

Usually the guys you bought the rock from are familiar with the common hitchhikers on their rocks. Maybe they can help.

 

[Rtaylor]

Usually the guys you bought the rock from are familiar with the common hitchhikers on their rocks. Maybe they can help.

I’m nearly certain it’s not from my rock

 

[Duncan62]

I’m nearly certain it’s not from my rock

Well it's a cool find regardless. It'll be fun to watch it grow. Enjoy your mystery nem!

 

[Eagle_Steve]

It really has a lot of tentacles, you can see in the next 2 pics:

Here you can see around the mouth

here is the foot;

It does look a lot like some of the nems I have. They are listed as Warty Nems, but I know they are not. Sadly, I have not been able to find out the exact nem that they are. Not much interest from FWC or any colleges in FL about identifying them. All work is being done on stoney corals at the moment. Dont get me wrong, I get that, but would be nice to know what these guys are. They have been showing up in South FL the past few years and were never seen before in these locations. Or at least seen by me in them, as I have collected in these locations going on 35 years now.

Let me see if I can get one to ball up and get a pic of it balled up. I have some in the substrate, so should not be that hard.

Also, as a side note. I do have some of them in my 180. Last rock that went into my 180 was over 2 years ago and it came from the system these nems are in. That has been the only thing added that has touched this system. All other things came from whatever and then into my coral QT. From there they sit, get inspected and then go into the 180. With that said, it appears that spores, small splits or whatever they are make take quite a while to show their face. In addition, most of the NPS nems I collect are all from the underside of rocks and live in high flow areas. Basically, they stay where it is dark and the flow can bring them food.

 

[Rtaylor]

It does look a lot like some of the nems I have. They are listed as Warty Nems, but I know they are not. Sadly, I have not been able to find out the exact nem that they are. Not much interest from FWC or any colleges in FL about identifying them. All work is being done on stoney corals at the moment. Dont get me wrong, I get that, but would be nice to know what these guys are. They have been showing up in South FL the past few years and were never seen before in these locations. Or at least seen by me in them, as I have collected in these locations going on 35 years now.

Let me see if I can get one to ball up and get a pic of it balled up. I have some in the substrate, so should not be that hard.

Also, as a side note. I do have some of them in my 180. Last rock that went into my 180 was over 2 years ago and it came from the system these nems are in. That has been the only thing added that has touched this system. All other things came from whatever and then into my coral QT. From there they sit, get inspected and then go into the 180. With that said, it appears that spores, small splits or whatever they are make take quite a while to show their face. In addition, most of the NPS nems I collect are all from the underside of rocks and live in high flow areas. Basically, they stay where it is dark and the flow can bring them food.

Interesting, that’s cool. Thanks!

 

[Rtaylor]

It does look a lot like some of the nems I have. They are listed as Warty Nems, but I know they are not. Sadly, I have not been able to find out the exact nem that they are. Not much interest from FWC or any colleges in FL about identifying them. All work is being done on stoney corals at the moment. Dont get me wrong, I get that, but would be nice to know what these guys are. They have been showing up in South FL the past few years and were never seen before in these locations. Or at least seen by me in them, as I have collected in these locations going on 35 years now.

Let me see if I can get one to ball up and get a pic of it balled up. I have some in the substrate, so should not be that hard.

Also, as a side note. I do have some of them in my 180. Last rock that went into my 180 was over 2 years ago and it came from the system these nems are in. That has been the only thing added that has touched this system. All other things came from whatever and then into my coral QT. From there they sit, get inspected and then go into the 180. With that said, it appears that spores, small splits or whatever they are make take quite a while to show their face. In addition, most of the NPS nems I collect are all from the underside of rocks and live in high flow areas. Basically, they stay where it is dark and the flow can bring them food.

Here’s a video if it helps at all

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Here’s a video if it helps at all

The way the tents move, are arranged and the amount of rows is very very similar to the ones I have that do not have "warts" on the column.

Let me get some time to get some pics of the ones I have.

 

[Rtaylor]

Well it's a cool find regardless. It'll be fun to watch it grow. Enjoy your mystery nem!

Maybe it is from the rock, just didn’t think it was likely after 3 years, lol

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Maybe it is from the rock, just didn’t think it was likely after 3 years, lol

It may not be. Or they just stayed on the underside of rocks where you could not see them. No way to know for sure lol. Unless you changed something recently with flow or structure and they came out to eat. Heck, they breed in my macro/mangrove lagoon, so could be that as well. Didnt think of this, but the babies do tend to come out more than adults. So to speak.

 

[Rtaylor]

The way the tents move, are arranged and the amount of rows is very very similar to the ones I have that do not have "warts" on the column.

Let me get some time to get some pics of the ones I have.

I did a little research on gulf nems and it does look a lot like callactis tricolor or bunodactis stelloides, if you have any familiarity with those. The callactis species often hitched a ride on hermit crabs….I did get some snails around that time, but they were from the Philippines….I hadn’t thought of that possibility.

callactis polypus maybe? The foot isn’t patterned like the pics I found, but otherwise very similar…..

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I did a little research on gulf nems and it does look a lot like callactis tricolor or bunodactis stelloides, if you have any familiarity with those. The callactis species often hitched a ride on hermit crabs….I did get some snails around that time, but they were from the Philippines….I hadn’t thought of that possibility.

callactis polypus maybe? The foot isn’t patterned like the pics I found, but otherwise very similar…..

the tricolor (hermit nems( have very distinctive mouths and your appears to not have a mouth like that. It does have the tent layout similar to them. It could still be one, as there are tons of varieties of them. I have 2 that look nothing like what is listed for them, but the mouth shape is the giveaway to what they are, or at least similar to.

In regards to the bunodactis stelloides (gem nem), the disc around the mouth doesnt look right. But that is the same as above. I have 5 of them and all are each a little different and some may not even be them. They just resemble this species very closely, so I consider them that.

As for inverts from other areas, it is a possibility that a small one could have hiked its way in.

Like I mentioned before, sadly, nems do not get much attention when it comes to classification and correct grouping. Most get lumped into something in regards to species, "as they are close enough". I will not go too much into this, as I can even get down to how GBTA and RBTA should not be named the same species. Genus yes, but species no lol. Well, my opinion anyways lol.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

No idea, but it's cute, lol!