What is this #2?

[Vicki]

I purchased a Candy Cane coral. It has a hitchhiker (?) on it that is a beautiful lavender colored "thing". What is the lavender thing on the right?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Vicki

 

[wrightme43]

looks like Truncaites.

 

[Vicki]

Haven't found much information yet, but I'll keep looking.
Are these okay to leave in the tank?
Is this a number of them or just one large one?

Thanks!
Vicki

 

[Tangee]

Vicki,
I think he meant ''Tunicates'' , if you're trying to look them up.

Susie

 

[wrightme43]

Yeah thats it I spell like Micheal Moore diets.

 

[Tangee]

They aren't bad, filter feeders. Those are really nice ones, I think you might need to share a little bit of them with your favorite reef-loving neighbor .

Susie

 

[Vicki]

Thanks for the information. I'm not having much luck finding pictures that look like mine though. Tomorrow I'll move it closer to the side of the tank so I can get a better look at it. Next week I'm getting a better camera too!

Any idea what type of tunicate (is that pronounced TunaCut?) this is?
It certainly is interesting and I'm happy it's not a 'bad' hitchhiker.

Come on over Susie; my Mentor.

Vicki

 

[Boomer]

Those are botryllid tunicates, Ascidian's, usually of the genus Botryllus sp. They are members of the Ascidian colonial group called Styelidae, Order, Stolidobranchia

Pics, lots of them
http://images.google.com/images?q=Botryllus&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&start=100&sa=N

Yours is very similar to and more than likely Botryllus leptus. This is a very diverse species.


http://www.edge-of-reef.com/tunicati/htmen/TUNbotryllusen.htm

http://www.reefimages.com/Sponges/Sponges7.htm

 

[Vicki]

This is it!!! THANKS so much for all the links.
I really appreciate you giving me all this information.

Thanks,
Vicki