ID? tentacles coming from rock at night??

[butrball12]

At night i have these tentacle things that emerge from the a piece of live rock. They look like the legs of a starfish but they extend so far that im not really sure. They are banded tan and gray/black, and they have bristles along them. I dont think its a worm because their thickness tapers off towards the end, like a tentacle. any help would be great. thanks!
Dave

 

[sgarron]

Most likely a brittle star

 

[JasonR]

looks like some sort of brittle star
Try spot feeding it
It might come all the way out

 

[panmanmatt]

Look like micro brittle stars. I have thousands of them in my tanks. They are great little clean up guys.

 

[butrball12]

can they be micros if the tentacles are 3 inches long??

 

[Hawkeye]

hmm - these are my micro stars....

I think yours are just regular brittle stars. Did you try and spot feed? Usually when I put a small piece of shrimp/silversides - the star will try and pull it into the LR to eat. Also if you re-aquascape, I bet there is a good chance that simply lifting the rock up - you'll find the star right underneath. They they are bristle worms - then you should be able to see the hole the retract into (sometimes I've seen them build little silky tubes to come out of.

 

[panmanmatt]

Brittle stars are huge, like 8-10 inches from tip to tip. The micros I have are about 2-3 inches tip to tip with a body about this size "O".

 

[butrball12]

last time i moved the rock i did see some tiny brittles (this was before i knew they exisited), i just thought they were babies. so now that im thinking about it, this does seem like the most logical explanation. thanks for the help guys!

 

[RichT]

could be "Cracken"

 

[reefitup]

LMAO

 

[harryk]

could be "Cracken"

If it is "Cracken" you'll need madusa's head to kill it ;D

 

[Hawkeye]

perseus has to first find the witches to locate medusa...I never knew perseus went by the userid butrball12!