Hitchhiker id Please

[pmahler3]

Received some coral today and found this in the bag. Please id, and let me know if good or bad.

 

[dogstar]

Could be a nudi but realy need a better pic.

 

[pmahler3]

I'll try and get a better pic later. It looks like a catapiller.

 

[bret61081]

Almost looks like a small cucumber...I have 2....great little sand sifters

 

[smoney]

it looks like a nudibranch or cucumber, which in that case its a good thing.

 

[ophiura]

It looks like it MIGHT be a cucumber but it would not be a sand sifter, IMO. It looks more like a filter feeder. Need a closer picture though.

 

[mudplayerx]

Looks like a cuke to me....I have to disagree about the filter feeder though. I think you may be mistaking the spikes for filter tentacles. The drab coloring is also typical of a detrivore.

 

[ophiura]

I'm not mistaking the spikes for filter tentacles. There are no tentacles exposed on the animal. But both filter feeders and sand sifters can have those "spikes." I happened to have had a small hitch hiker with that color that was definitely a filter feeder. Not all filter feeding cukes are brightly colored - drab coloring is a camouflage for many species regardless of being a deposit feeder or filter feeder. The fact that it was hanging onto a coral, that would have I presume been in some flow, indicates to me that it might be a filter feeder. Of course one would need to see the tentacles and behavior to know for sure.

 

[speg]

Originally Posted by ophiura
Of course one would need to see the tentacles and behavior to know for sure.
I'd have to say thats like the only possible way of knowing for sure So many types of cucumbers out there that hitchhike their way onto liverock. I have at least 3-4 that came on my live rock and they are very brown in color with red 'spikes' on their bodys. They are filter feeders.