Found a new hitchhiker today

[Jeff]

I was doing a little tank gazing today found this little guy running around.

Anyone have an I.D? He is only about an inch long and the red stripes going down his back are like lettuce nudis frills.

I also found this coral coming out of the rocks.

Sorry for the crappy photo. When I fist saw these two I wasn’t sure if the were just coralline algae or not, they were so small. Now they are about the size of the eraser on a pencil. You can just, maybe, make out there polyps in the photo they are very skinny almost hair like. Any ideas on these. I love there color, in person they are like a very bright burgundy.

 

[mojoreef]

The coral is a pocciapora. The critter looks to be some kind of a nudibranc.


mike

 

[NaH2O]

The closest thing I could find on your sea slug is:

Thuridilla hoffae

Thuridilla hoffae

 

[acropora]

Nice link Nikki...The question is what does it eat? Keep an eye on it. You will need a better picture for the coral I.D.

 

[G~]

Nice link Nikki...The question is what does it eat? Keep an eye on it. You will need a better picture for the coral I.D.

this is the question that needs to be answered, and prolly quickly if the nudi is still in the system. the good news is they usually stay close to their food source. where did you see it? very few of these eat anything good. most eat corals, with softies being the prefered food source. nudi's are also specific feeders, as in, some may only eat one particular species of coral. so if it is not in the system they will starve.

G~

 

[Jeff]

Yes, I would say that the nudi is defenately a Thuridilla hoffae. Good news is that it looks like he eats algea, though that is starting to get scarce in my tank. I am not so sure about the coral though. I will have to get a better picture.

 

[Jeff]

I think that my coral hitchhiker is not a coral at all. It really has not grown much in the three months that I have been watching them, but I have noticed many other tiny ones that are scattered throughout my rock work. I think that it is a foraminiferans.
http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/picture_pages/faq_foramred.html

It totally feels stoney when you touch it, I wish it was a coral since its color is so bright.

 

[Jeff]

I have also found this guy running around the tank.

What do you think, is it a Linckia? I can't believe this thing survived cycling. 275lbs. of rock in 300 gallons of water. I did not do any water changes while cycling and my ammonia was off the charts for 3+ weeks!