Need help ID'ing this thing - sponge?

[Martin Feeney]

Hello,

Just did some gardening in the tank to remove some vegetation. Found these guys lurking. Yellow forked "Head, clear tubular body and opaque towards the bottom. Can't get a great shot. Appear to be anchored to the rock. Not sure if they are photosynthesizing, but very close to lights at top of tank.

 

[reef lover]

Thats a new one!! #reefsquad

 

[saltyhog]

Wow! As my grandmother would say, "well I never".

I suspect this probably isn't a coral...more likely an invert? sponge? Heck, I don't know! Can't wait to see what this turns out to be!

 

[rkpetersen]

No idea!

Also, welcome to R2R!

 

[reef lover]

Ohhh my bad! Welcome to r2r !!

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Welcome!

I have no clue what those are.

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!
Looks a little bit like a sea squirt.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I've never seen anything like it in an aquarium or in snorkeling in the Keys for years!
Good luck!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I just showed this to my wife and she suggested it may be a tunicate of some kind?

We looked at our reference book for the Caribbean and didn't see anything like it, but then tunicates come from all over the world and in a huge variety of shapes, colors and sizes. They also tend to be anchored to something. Just a though.

 

[Martin Feeney]

I just showed this to my wife and she suggested it may be a tunicate of some kind?

We looked at our reference book for the Caribbean and didn't see anything like it, but then tunicates come from all over the world and in a huge variety of shapes, colors and sizes. They also tend to be anchored to something. Just a though.

Thanks for the suggestion. I ruled out tunicates since they always have a hole to allow water flow through their structure. This doesn't appear to have any kind of visible opening.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks for the suggestion. I ruled out tunicates since they always have a hole to allow water flow through their structure. This doesn't appear to have any kind of visible opening.

Aw, ok, we kind of assumed from the photo that the 2 things at the end were places that could have been holes. So probably not tunicates.

 

[KJ]

Just did some gardening in the tank to remove some vegetation.

What kind of inhabitants do you have in your tank?

 

[Martin Feeney]

What kind of inhabitants do you have in your tank?

2 clownfish and a goby are the only fish. An assortment of crabs. Various corals (duncan, chalice, acro, carpet, zoes). Its a mature tank, so a few sponges that appeared out of the rock a few years ago. These guys appear completely new, and no live rock added to the tank in 10 years. Aliens?

 

[garbled]

Other than the yellow, it looks kinda like caulerpa that went sexual and left behind it's "shell"...