A mystery crtitter

[blennyluv]

hi all
i have this little critter in my tank, it crawls on the back glass and it is about 14 small. here are some pics, they are not great cuz it is so small but you can see it. it has a reflection behind it. its so cute, but would like to find out what it is, good bad or ugly!!
thanks
dani

 

[wax32]

Looks like a brightly colored Stomatella varia. Try researching that and see if it matches. I have never seen one that bright, but who knows.

 

[bigarn]

Yea, that was my guess to Wax .... I've never seen one that color either. I guess that's why they're called Stomatella Varia.

 

[wax32]

Yup, if it really orange and a Stomatella, I WANT ONE!

 

[blennyluv]

well, its not that bright, actually, its a pale yellow with kind of tanish pink tentacles. i guess, it looks that bright cuz i took the pic at night under the flashlight. i will post a pic of it in daylight

 

[blennyluv]

ok, not a clear pic, but the color is closer

 

[blennyluv]

so is this thing good bad or ugly??

 

[blennyluv]

oh, by the way, this baby is soft. no shell, and when i touched it , it sucked in its little circle of tentacle like things. hmmmm
what i found on stomatella is it has a flat shell, so far that is what i have found. maybe this is diff

 

[bigarn]

Hmm ... does it expand and look slug like at all? It looks more expanded in the first picture. :thinking:

 

[blennyluv]

ya, it does expand. and when you touch it it retracts, but do slugs have that ring on top of them??

 

[bigarn]

Well if it's a Stomatella snail it's a harmless algae grazer and a good addition. Can you get a clear pic of it expanded?

 

[wax32]

Stomatella don't HAVE to have a hard shell, some species have no discernable shell at all. You say this thing has a ring of tentacles? Like all the way around it?

 

[blennyluv]

look closely at the pic, you can see it looks llike a flower in the middle.

 

[ophiura]

I don't believe it is a snail. From the description and a bit from the pick it actually seems more like a polyp - anemone of some sort. :notsure:

 

[blennyluv]

seems i am baffling the experts with this one. i believe it to be some kind of polyp also. have anemone been known to move around on the glass? sure cute whatever it is

 

[ophiura]

Yes, they can definitely crawl around so some sort of anemone like think is a definite possibility if it has tentacles and such...and the retracted picture looks very much like a retracted anemone.