need info and id on this stinging clam

[loopy101]

hello everyong! tonight i was doing what i usually do sit infront of the tank and watch the fish and look over the live rock to see if there is anything new growing. i noticed this grean thing poking up through the sand next to a chuck of live rock . i stuck my hand in there to swish the sand away to see what it was and to my surprise something stung me or something!!! so i put some latex gloves on and what ever it is stung me through the gloves!!!! so i made me a little net out of a coat hanger and have the little clam in a cup right now gonna get a picture of it so yall can better tell what it is but has anyone ever heard of a clam that shoots darts or stinging cells? i know nothing about clams!! its small green with what looks like little spikes sticking out of its shell (and no i didnt touch it or really even come with in 5,6 inches of it! but i will get a p ict taken and get it on here in a few minutes

 

[reefforbrains]

A projectile attack from a clam is new to me.
A pic will do wonders. First I was fearing Conch/Cone when you said stung, but from your description it really is difficult to get the two confused. *fweew* oh yeah...and odds are you would already be dead.
Please do post a pic

 

[grabbitt]

Hmm... This fascinates me. You could actually feel a sting or was it a warming sensation? Pics would make a world of difference...

 

[loopy101]

i tried to get a good pict hopefully this will work for you guys!?!?!?! i have it in a cup now. but when i was "stung" me it basically felt like i was bricked real quick with a needle didnt really hurt but kind confused me or shocked me more then anything! i noticed on a rock there is a creamy white buger looking this with these little tenicles coming up that could be the culprit as well not sure we will see what you guys think about this!
and thanks for any info you can give me!
i can get a picture of the "buger thing" tomorrow morning if you guys think that might help.?

 

[reefforbrains]

Creamy white? Hydroid perhaps responsible for the sensation.
The pic sort of looks like a Scallop but so far away its hard to tell. Shell have ridges or smooth? Hinge point in one spot, or more like a spine that runs the length of the backside?
From here my vote is scallop, but the shape doesnt look right to me

 

[loopy101]

it just has 1 hinge that i can tell bout a 1/16 of a inch long and dark green in color with a little patch of lighter green. and looks to be a smooth type of shell. sorry bout the picture still trying to learn how to use the camera .. the picture was taking only inches away from the clam but had a heck of a time trying to focus the camera.tried ttaking pictures farther away as well and that would focus at all for me gonna have to read the manual on all the different settings again.
do you think he is safe to through back into the tank?
and i am still amazed and what can all come crawling out of your life rock! i have found what i think are tiny feather dusters coming out of the first piece of live rock i bout dang near 6 months ago! this is all fasinating ! lots to learn! i love it!

 

[reefforbrains]

I am sure someone will come along and completley disagree with my posts but to me it does look like a scallop with the tenticles spread as it looks in the pic.
Scallops have poor survival rates in home systems but of course we have not absolutley ruled it as a scallop yet either. I am fairly certain you are perfectly safe to add it back to the tank.
If your camera cannot do so good on close ups, then turn your resolution to the highest setting and then back away for good stable clean shot. Then zoom and cut to post macros. Its a sort of Ghetto macro that works well enough if your cam has enough MP.

 

[grabbitt]

Based on the hitchhiker scallop I've got in my tank (and the similarity to your guest), I would agree with ReefForBrains. Scallop. Again, not positive, but I'm fairly certain.

 

[candycane]

hummmm. Does it have a definetive seperation in the shell where the tentacles are?
Just another idea might be a smaller Maretia Planulata Urchin that has lost some of it's spines.

 

[loopy101]

he is a better picture of it i tried to crop it and make it bigger. and hope i did it right!! it is shaped like a clam but the spines or tenicles what ever you want to call them are actually coming off the shell. the shell looks like there is something in there havent seen it open up like ive seen alot of clams do so i suppose it is possible that its just a urchin?!?! or maybe could it be possible that it is a empty clam shell with a anenome growing on it? this is all new to me and i think so far i am having more fun trying to id all the stuff that is coming out of the live rock!
and thanks guys for all your help and ideas!

 

[loopy101]

forgot to attact the picture! lol so here it is

 

[reefforbrains]

Ok with the closer view it is opposite of my first thoughts.
The little strings coming from the backside spine area are for allowing itself to attach to its home. I thought they were from the opening.
I dont think urchin at all. It is firm shelled correct?
A clam expert should come along and give us something difinitive.

 

[paintballer768]

Could that blurry white patch on the bottom part of the clam, where the hing is, could be a hydroid?

 

[candycane]

You can rule out the fact the thing is a clam all together.

Granted, it's probably some sort of bivalve, just don't know what kind. There is a certain familia where the hinge on the shell is thin along the front like that and kind of "wrinkles" along the back. I just can't recall what it is. Like where towards the bottom left it looks almost like the hinge has folds in it. That's the most likely defining characteristic, I just can't remember from what........

 

[nacl freak]

Bump

 

[loopy101]

i just wanted to say thanks to everyone that has looked and offered there opions!! but i still have yet to figure out what this guy is for sure! and i just fed my fish and was looking and low and behold i have another one of these mystery "clams" the second one is about half the size of the first one. i am just wondering if these guys could do any harm to my tank? if i should be pulling them out when i find them? makes me wonder if i have more of these in my sand bed and or live rocks.
thanks guys and gals for all your help!!!!

 

[keri]

Sorry, does it have 2 sides, not like an abalone, right?
abalone:

 

[loopy101]

that is a pretty cool looking clam but no the tenicals you see in my pict is actually coming off of the shell itself not the insides of the "clam"

 

[ophiura]

It is a common hitch hiker bivalve (call it a mussel or something) and it will likely move around a fair amount. Various threads off it could be byssal threads (eg the "beard" of mussels that attack to rocks and they are also obvious on things like flame scallops and such). So it is quite possibly from the animal itself. These can live a fair while in our tanks, but they don't open like tridacna's. It is entirely possible that hydroids or something else that stings has grown on the shell, but the bivalve itself is not doing it.