What are these in my sand bed?

[kmarine]

Hi everyone,

I woke up this morning and noticed around 5 of these flat things in my sand bed. Any idea of what they could be? They are about half an inch or less in size.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

It looks like they have two little tube-shaped openings from what I can see, so I’d guess solitary tunicates.

 

[kmarine]

interesting! overall good guys or do you think i should remove them? I was wondering if they could be baby clams or a weird egg of some sort..

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

interesting! overall good guys or do you think i should remove them? I was wondering if they could be baby clams or a weird egg of some sort..

If they're solitary tunicates, then they won't move (aside from maybe contracting/expanding their tubes) or spread, and they're totally harmless filter feeders, so I'd keep them.

 

[kmarine]

Just an update. Someone suggested it could be the operculum of a dead snail, which would make sense since I just found a dead snail in the tank that some hermit crabs have been munching on. This google pic looks similar.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Just an update. Someone suggested it could be the operculum of a dead snail, which would make sense since I just found a dead snail in the tank that some hermit crabs have been munching on. This google pic looks similar.

Yeah, if it doesn't have any tubes sticking out, operculum would be a solid guess.