Need Tank critter ID

kylem · Jun 15, 2004

I found this criter today crawling slowly along the rock.
He looks like a chiton but more elongated and has a oblong piece on the front half on top...not a hole but something else. He is about 1 1/2 inches long.
Any one know what it is. I am trying to get a picture but he crawled back in a crevice.

NaH2O · Jun 15, 2004

Kyle, there is a chiton that doesn't look like your ordinary chiton. It has a reduction of shell plates Cryptoplax larvaeformis. It can be found in the book Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific. It describes this chiton as: "owing to the reduction of the shell plates and increased girdle, this species looks more like a worm than a mollusk. It is far more flexible than other chitons and may reach a length of 150mm. So, even though this doesn't look like a typical chiton, it may still be one.

kylem · Jun 15, 2004

I don't have that book any other links or can you scan me a picture?

NaH2O · Jun 15, 2004

I'll post it tomorrow....

NaH2O · Jun 17, 2004

Did I say tomorrow? I meant the day after...

This photo of Cryptoplax larvaeformis is from the book: Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific; by Gosliner, Behrens, and Williams; page 124. This is an excellent book, by the way, for those that are interested.

kylem · Jun 17, 2004

Hmm. Not the same color but shape is correct. The marking on the back are not the same...the one in my tank has something like the nodes on the right side but that is all. The rest of the body has banding like the Chiton. Maybe a relative.

Thanks. I will have to wait till he come into view again...haven't seen him since.

I have another creature in my tank on the same rock. It has 10 or more soft tubes on the same body clump like a anemome or coral. There is some color on the ends like orange or yellow/green. The one came out like a fan worm but not...the fan was all one like a mushroom. I will attach a picture. ...now how to attach picture....I don't see an option