My Tunicate just Threw Up....A Live Hitchiker!

[saltyfilmfolks]

So...... I bought a tunicate. (Yea, I know), I thought it was an ox heart tunicate. Kinda just grey and lavender lines.
A few hours after getting g it Home the color got deeper in the veins and the siphons a nice orangey color.

A few days pass, colors get deeper and I’m pretty darned happy.

I looked at the tank last night and I noticed it was curled up. Ten minutes later it started to shed.
(Inner monologue “it’s shedding , it’s just shedding, uhhh do they shed?”)

Yes. They do shed. But this was FAST. Under an hour. Also starts to change color....

Well cool! Get camera. Stay clam.

Uhhhh, are those guts? Aw, geeeze...

Seriously, what the heck is that?!?
Where are my 390 loupes and 189 macro lenses!?!?

Thanks to modern technology and the speed this all happened , we turned to the trusty IPhone and the $3 plastic loupe and got this!

Mind BLOWN!!!

Yea, it is alive , and in a mesh bag in the tank.

Anyone like to hazard a guess as to what it is exactly?

Oh, and yes , we feel much better (and more colorful),after a quick purge and a shed.
Golden Tunicate (or Oxheart ) , Polycarpa Aurata

I forgot to #reefsquad my friends.

 

[Maggie321]

That's cool. And a pretty little lobster. I'm curious what it is so following along!

 

[MaddyP]

Wow...

 

[Will Milberger]

Neat!

 

[Livinlocal]

Hmm so was it a lobster inside, or???

 

[TinyChocobo]

Wow.

 

[Fourstars]

Just watched the original Aliens movie on HBO the other night. That's what it reminded me of.

 

[Lasse]

It remains me than I discover a Zebra crab on my urchin - after 1 year! And its still there.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

That's super neat!

Might be some sort of commensal shrimp/lobster that inhabits the inside of the tunicate. No clue on the genus or species though.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Huh, that's pretty awesome! Was it living in the Tunicate? Almost reminds me of Synalpheus regalis which can be found living in sponges. But they don't have the markings that the one in your picture does.

 

[Lasse]

That's super neat!

Might be some sort of commensal shrimp/lobster that inhabits the inside of the tunicate. No clue on the genus or species though.

My thought too

Sincerely Lasse

 

[ihavecrabs]

Wow that is incredible.

Check out Periclimenaeus storchi. http://www.echeng.com/journal/2011/11/15/commensal-snapping-shrimp-inside-tunicate

 

[Paullawr]

Pretty neat salty. This hobby just keeps on giving

 

[najer]

That is cool as!

 

[HOOPDEEZ]

Very cool!

 

[XNavyDiver]

That is about as alien an organism I've seen, an I have no idea what just happened there.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

It's a tunicate shrimp. They come in all colors. The closest I could find was a yellow tunicate shrimp. It has the same pink patches just not clear. I'm sure if you research further you could find your match or maybe yours hasn't colored up yet. Awesome find!

 

[Jose Mayo]

Nature is fantastic ... the Polycarpa aurata tunicate is extremely beautiful!

Your guest, seen in the photo, seems to be the shrimp symbionte Odontonia katoi.

Regards

 

[graffitireef]

Hmm so was it a lobster inside, or???

It wasnt a rock...IT WAS A ROCK- LOBSTER!!!!!

 

[cracker]

There for a sec I thought it coughed up that Mandarin !
Any way very cool to see. You have the coolest shops in SD !