Hitchhiker ID
 

Well, I have been quite pleasantly suprised by the amount and variety of stuff that is showing up on my live rock since the cycle finished. I have been able to ID most of it as good stuff, lots of feather dusters, some pods, brittle stars and such, but this one I'm not sure of.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/dat...own-1.jpg?4739

I was a bit concerned that it may have been the dreaded aptasia that i've heard so much (bad things) about. I have searched several sites and forums on that, and this thing does not seem to resemble any pictures or descriptions I have found of aptasia. It is a polyp of some sort, it is flat to the rock, and has ragged/frilly edges which do not seem to be like an anemones tentacles. It does react and close up when disturbed so it is a polyp for sure. It is currently slightly smaller than the size of a dime. If anyone can give me some idea what sort of critter it is - good or bad - I would be grateful.

Cant tell by the pic but it might be a mushroom

Not likely to be a mushroom if it closes upon being touched. I'd say some sort of polyp. Does it have a skeleton at all? I had a pair of odd polyp-looking things that turned out to be Fungia spp., according to Borneman.

There does not appear to be a skeleton structure to it. It just seems to be spread out flat on the rock itself.

My best guess given the picture is a button polyp, which is a close relative of the zoanthids. Very common hitchhiker on live rock. They're cool, they don't harm anything that I know of. They will spread, faster if you feed them.

I didn't want to go and destroy it without knowing what it is, I will keep an eye on it to see what it does.

Sorry about the picture, but my digital camera does not do macro very well. I may try to borrow a better one from my sister to get a better shot to post.

I am finaly gong to start up my reef in about one weeks time, and was wondering where you got you rock, as I would like to get some with lots of Stuff in there? :mrgreen:

Robb

I bought 140 lbs of Kanai rock from J&L Aquatics. It is very nice rock, and they are excellent to deal with. I plan to get another 70 lbs sometime to build up my aquascape a bit more.

Great rock. I got my two little Fungias on that stuff. :smile:

Maybe it's a mojano :exclaim:
If so, nuke it with some hot kalk and di blend :evil: