Critter ID

[DDenny]

Just noticed this in my tank. At first I thought it was a brittle star with the coloring but it hasn’t moved in days. I did have an anemone that came it on the gulf liverock but I removed it over two months ago. I do not believe this is an anemone but not sure

 

[AlyciaMarie Verified Admin]

Looks similar to Aiptasia to me.

 

[kchristensen8064]

+1 on Aiptasia.

 

[DDenny]

+1 on Aiptasia.

So why doesn’t disappear when the lights come on?

 

[Reef Wizard]

@ISpeakForTheSeas should be able to help

 

[Biota_Marine]

Just noticed this in my tank. At first I thought it was a brittle star with the coloring but it hasn’t moved in days. I did have an anemone that came it on the gulf liverock but I removed it over two months ago. I do not believe this is an anemone but not sure

Ball Anemone, they typically die off and don't spread like aiptasia

 

[DDenny]

Ball Anemone, they typically die off and don't spread like aiptasia

Think it’s some species of Edwardsia.
Which are tube anemones from what little research I could do before heading to work this morning.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas should be able to help

Think it’s some species of Edwardsia.
Which are tube anemones from what little research I could do before heading to work this morning.

Pics of the mouth would help - I don't know if it's an Edwardsia species (it could be; there are dozens of species in the genus and I'm not familiar with all of them yet), but I think it's quite likely at least from the same family, Edwardsiidae.

These aren't Tube Anemones - those are Ceriantharians, rather than true anemones, and they have two, distinct whorls of tentacles while true anemones have one. Edwardsiid anemones are true anemones sometimes called Worm Anemones; they're known for their long, wormlike body-shape and for most species living burrowed in substrate or rock.

Honestly, Worm Nems are pretty rare hitchhikers and pretty neat; I haven't heard of them reproducing in our tanks yet (though I haven't looked at if they've been cultured in a lab setting yet), and they tend to like to stay in one spot from what I've seen - so they should theoretically be fairly safe hitchhikers to keep. Not sure on the sting potency yet (again, these aren't common, so I haven't looked too deeply at them yet).

(Ceriantharians), as tube nems have a second whorl of tentacles in by the mouth while normal nems only have one whorl (basically tube nems have two sets of tentacles - an inner set and an outer set; normal nems just have the outer set).

 

[DDenny]

Pics of the mouth would help - I don't know if it's an Edwardsia species (it could be; there are dozens of species in the genus and I'm not familiar with all of them yet), but I think it's quite likely at least from the same family, Edwardsiidae.

These aren't Tube Anemones - those are Ceriantharians, rather than true anemones, and they have two, distinct whorls of tentacles while true anemones have one. Edwardsiid anemones are true anemones sometimes called Worm Anemones; they're known for their long, wormlike body-shape and for most species living burrowed in substrate or rock.

Honestly, Worm Nems are pretty rare hitchhikers and pretty neat; I haven't heard of them reproducing in our tanks yet (though I haven't looked at if they've been cultured in a lab setting yet), and they tend to like to stay in one spot from what I've seen - so they should theoretically be fairly safe hitchhikers to keep. Not sure on the sting potency yet (again, these aren't common, so I haven't looked too deeply at them yet).

Will try and get better picture. It’s so small and the location it’s in a top down might be hard to get but will try.