ID! Eggs I think?

[AydenLincoln]

In the last few days I noticed these little things floating around the top of the water. The tank is only home to a small purple reef lobster and flame scallop….so which one do these belong to? I have various macros in the tank too. They aren’t moving so I don’t believe it’s a pest/hitchhiker and they just appeared over the last few days.

 

[AydenLincoln]

@ISpeakForTheSeas Thoughts?

 

[ryanjohn1]

@ISpeakForTheSeas Thoughts?

Pods of some kind. Would be my guess

 

[AydenLincoln]

Pods of some kind. Would be my guess

I thought pods too but they are floating at the top and not moving.

 

[ryanjohn1]

Access to micro scope?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Honestly, not much is known about reef lobster reproduction (and the only info I can find is behind a paywall), but - assuming they reproduce similar to other lobsters - I'm not sure if they would put out eggs without a male to reproduce with. So, the flame scallop would seem the more obvious choice (since they spawn rather than mate). If you know roughly how big they are in microns/mm that could help (similar species from the same family as the flame scallop have eggs in the 130-440 micron range, but I've heard that many between 200-440 brood the eggs internally rather than releasing them), but a microscope would likely be more helpful in this case.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Access to micro scope?

No I don’t but maybe I can ask around.

 

[JGT]

I thought pods too but they are floating at the top and not moving.

Dead pods?

 

[AydenLincoln]

Dead pods?

You know I hadn’t thought about that lol.