My Greatest Fear, Realized

Lionfish Lair · Dec 17, 2016

NASTY!!!!!

Thanks for sharing. That's the type I had, but it was beige.

Lionfish Lair · Dec 17, 2016

This was mine....

aaron23 · Dec 17, 2016

Dear lord I'd run from that

Ljaus · Dec 17, 2016

Gives me the hebie jeebies

wattson · Dec 17, 2016

loves to eat zoas and can possibly multiply faster than you'd like,,,my biggest fear too,,,I only have zoas

DereksReef77 · Dec 17, 2016

These bast###s wiped out my zoas before I realized what I was dealing with. Dipped everything in bayer 15 minutes but it didn't kill these guys. Manual removal for me then moved to different tank after dipping again. Added wrasses and am breaking the original tank down and starting over.

bevo5 · Dec 17, 2016

Kill all of those things with fire. Then do it again.

Lionfish Lair · Dec 17, 2016

wattson said:
loves to eat zoas and can possibly multiply faster than you'd like,,,my biggest fear too,,,I only have zoas

It actually eats all sorts of corals... anything it can "stab" and suck the juice out of.

wattson · Dec 17, 2016

Really,,never thought that but I only keep zoas and one frogspawn coral..I would rather never want to see one of those spiders alive with my own eyes..

Ljaus · Dec 17, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
It actually eats all sorts of corals... anything it can "stab" and suck the juice out of.

Roboson · Dec 17, 2016

Face Hugger...

Lionfish Lair · Dec 17, 2016

I think I listed the references to that factoid in another thread or possibly PM. Let me see if I can dig it up. Zoas seem to be a fav of some, but if you take away the zoas they will not starve.... ooooooh no, they just set their nasty sights on other stuff. Their life cycle can be over 100 days as well, for some species. Nice huh? Bayer will not get rid of them all. It will kill some outright, will slow others, but then others will survive treatment.

Ljaus · Dec 17, 2016

double post sorry.

Lionfish Lair · Dec 17, 2016

and detritus and bacteria depending on season.........

They specialize in certain prey items, but they are obligate for none.

Lionfish Lair · Dec 17, 2016

I hope y'all don't mind if I quote my own self here from another thread.....

"They are the cockroaches of the sea. They can adapt to eating anything. I don't know if this diagram was "good" to see.

Soler-Membrives, A., Rossi, S., & Munilla, T. (2011). Feeding ecology of Ammothella longipes (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida) in the Mediterranean Sea: A fatty acid biomarker approach. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science, 92(4), 588-597."

And umm..... I was wrong about the life cycle. I remember now... Some live up to 9 years....... NINE YEARS!!!

Tomaschko, K., Wilhelm, E., & Bückmann, D. (1997). Growth and reproduction of Pycnogonum litorale (Pycnogonida) under laboratory conditions. Marine Biology, 129(4), 595-600.

Lionfish Lair · Dec 17, 2016

Soooooo, that 9 year variety.... the Pycnogonum litorale.... guess what body shape it has?

https://www.google.com/search?q=Pyc...EwizrbHj2fzQAhWowFQKHUeoDooQ_AUIBigB&dpr=1.25

wattson · Dec 17, 2016

why would God create something like this ? for what purpose,,its just like a saltwater tick

mcarroll · Dec 17, 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_spider

They are not arachnids.

There is only one species that is hermaphroditic, so "more than likley" this one isn't doing any procreating.

But he does deserve a special home....maybe an anemone tank!

(emphasis mine)

Sea spiders either walk along the bottom with their stilt-like legs or swim just above it using an umbrella pulsing motion.[4] Most are carnivorous and feed on cnidarians, sponges, polychaetes and bryozoans. Sea spiders are generally predators or scavengers. They will often insert their proboscis, a long appendage used for digestion and sucking food into its gut, into a sea anemone and suck out nourishment. The sea anemone, large in comparison to its predator, almost always survives this ordeal.