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Looky what i found on a Gorgonian..

D

ds4x4

haven't researched what this is yet but i figured i would post it up. I at one time thought it was a wierd growth even tried to peel it off and thought it would hurt the coral and left it. Now i looked today and the growth was moving!! the pictures are taken through a magnifying glass more specifically the little double mag dot.

I'm not sure that it has done any harm to the coral and may actually be beneficial luckily in the 5 mos + ive had it the thing has never left the branches..

enjoy :)

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JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

I believe, and I could be wrong I will try to remember to look it up when I get home, that it is actually feeding on the gorgonian. I have seen them on gorgonians in Florida back before I knew they were worth something, pre reef days. Don't go and get rid of it until what I said can be confirmed. If I am right it won't move off the gorgonian as it is a specialized feeder like a nudi that lives on a sponge.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Ovulids are a large group of small to large predatory or parasitic sea snails that live on, and eat, soft corals and sea fans, and they are usually regarded as parasites of these sessile colonial organisms
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From above web site.

And where I got the original info.
Seashells of North America: A Guide to Field Identification
 
D

ds4x4

great find. i had a feeling that some of the tissue loss may have been from this thing but wanted to be sure there wasn't some sort of Symbiosis even if it was only one sided.
 
D

ds4x4

found a few more links

http://www.underwater-photos.com/pw082.html
http://www.oceanlight.com/simnia_photo.html
http://www.shelltrips.com/Florida/pics.html
http://coralnotesfromthefield.blogspot.com/2009/04/taxonomic-assistance-needed.html

Simnia uniplicata

This lovely little (up to 3/4 inch long) shell lives and feeds on purple gorgonians, or sea whips, which are a soft coral. In Sarasota we occasionally find gorgonians in the bay, and they sometimes carry a Simnia. The mollusk aligns itself with the axis of the coral and its color and body color mimic its host, so it's very difficult to see. Furthermore, the coral has white polyps that emerge from the purple skeleton and the mantle of the mollusk is also purple with white pustules that look exactly like the coral.

In this photo the mollusk has crawled off the sea whip.
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G

GreekReefer

Look at what I found...

I got mine out yesterday. Traps do not work. Steve Weast from the Oregon Reef told me traps are a waste of time. Steve pulled two worms out of his tank, one was 5ft and the other 7ft. OMG He told me thier tail usually doesn't leave the burrow. Only way to remove it is to find the rock it burrows in and remove the rock. Thank you Steve. I know it sucks but trust me well worth it. These worms can grow very large, mine started eating expensive acros. Not cool. We as reefers put all this time, energy, and money into creating an environment that will support these beatiful acropora not create gourmet meals for a worm.

Here is how you do it. Stake out the tank at night with a red flash light. I used a red flashlight and a couple of clip-on desk lamps with red bulbs in them. Light the tank up nice and good. It took me several nights to find its home. Be patient.

Now do what you have to do to get the rock out. Me I had to cut coral that had fused the rock in place. Pull the rock out, please use gloves, us a syringe and inject Club Soda into it's lair. LeslieH works at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. She is an expert in worms you can find her here on Reef Central. She told me to use club soda and boy does it work. After a few injections into the hole it crawled out of there fairly quickly. Thank you Leslie.

After he crawled out I started to inspect the rock to make sure it was safe to put back in. I saw another one. WTF I injected more club soda in and kind of pushed it out. When it dropped out I noticed it didn't have a head. I couldn't believe it. It left its tail behind to regenerate into a new worm. What an incredible survival mechanism.

Everyone who has one remove it. They might be harmless at first but as they get older their appetite changes and they start munching on coral. Trust me you want no parts of this. Get it out as soon as possible.


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close up of his face

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L

Lord Viper

Now I know where that guy got the "ALIEN" character from And here I thought that guy had really messed up dreams. Nope just had a reef tank LOL
 
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