strange creature givin to me....can you identify?

[azocean709]

was at the beach. fellow came up and gave me this slimy little creature and called it a "SEA PANSEY".. discription: it is 3 inches long. the basic shape is that of a mushroom. the head of it is purple....bright purple, on top of the head <in the water you can see them well> are a bunch of translucent fingers that expand out about 3/8's of an inch. on top of these fingers there is a flower lookin thing on top...something like a feather duster. but not as fine. the stem of the mushroom thing..lol i have watched it in the Q tank...it sets this stem into the sand, I know it is some kind of filter feeder, it is awesome in color. Just want to konw if anyone has ever seen one...I am on the north east coast of Florida...Fernandina beach. I want to put it in my reef tank...but really not sure what it is . anyone with any info..please tell.
thank you.
scott.

 

[littlebuck]

haevnt heard of them but wanted to see what u were talking about so i looked on line.
Here is a little info on them. its pretty neat.
sea pansy, fleshy, leaf-shaped colony of marine organisms belonging to the genus Renilla in the same phylum as the jellyfish. The colony consists of a stalk formed by a large organism called a primary polyp (see polyp and medusa) that is thrust into soft bottom material; the upper part of the stalk is composed of several kinds of secondary polyps. Sea pansies are handsome creatures; the reddish to purple upper stalk is studded with white polyps and is brilliantly luminescent. The colonies occur in the warmer regions of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Sea pansies are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, order Pennatulacea

 

[littlebuck]

is this what it looks like?

 

[azocean709]

i looked all over the internet...where did you find that info??? I thank you!!

 

[littlebuck]

go to yahoo adn type it in under sea pansey

 

[azocean709]

the pic you provided looks like the underside of it...that is way more red then the one i have . mine is almost like a light violet purple.

 

[littlebuck]

well it says they are comon in Fl. i dont think it would hurt anything but i would do some looking to make sure. Other then that i have no clue anything else about it. But do a search if not i can look and e-mail you the site i found it at

 

[azocean709]

HAHAH i was spellin it wrong....Ok....Thank you again...i reckon its reef safe...gotta do some research.
I am trying to get a pic of the one i have and if i can figure it out...get it on here for everone to check out.

 

[littlebuck]

The sea pansy is strikingly bioluminescent when disturbed, due to Green Fluorescent that wouold be neat to see have u had it over night yet?

 

[littlebuck]

it also looks like the big part is not the stem, the little part on the bottom is.

 

[azocean709]

you are right...the little part is the stem...it looks just like a purple mushroom. LOL i have had it in my possesion now for about 6 hours. i acclimated it to my Q tank, and droped it in...it moved about a foot by pulling itself with its little stem and then it set in....the mushroom part expanded then i saw the little polyps on top tart to come out. very awesome little creature.! so this thing is supposed to glow eh? i just read something of that. I will deffinatly be sneakin in there tonight to check it out

 

[littlebuck]

if it does that would be pretty neat. Let me know if it does.take some pics when it does if u can

 

[celacanthr]

They are would be similair to the sea pens, in fact they are in the same order. I don't know about sea pansey's. but the info for sea pens is this :Sea pens, actually consist of several types of polyps, ARE biolumenescent, and they do anchor into the sediment, not photosynthetic, and do need A LOT of artemia nauplii, rotifers, and other fine particulate matter, also they need a VERY deep sand bed, because several times a day, they deflate, dig into the sand, hren later, dig out, and re-inflate.
Thei is the info for sea pens. i am assuming they are very similair in care need. Not a lot of housing info on sea panseys, but if their care is like sea pens, it is unlikely for them to live a long time.

 

[celacanthr]

also, why did someone just come up to you and hand you something, sounds wierd, and very unsafe.

 

[azocean709]

Originally Posted by CELACANTHr
also, why did someone just come up to you and hand you something, sounds wierd, and very unsafe.
I was talking to this guy earlier about my reef tank, he has one also....about 20 minutes later he came back to where i was at and gave me the pansy...he also had....oh my god....this dude had a conch snail....and when i say huge ..there is no exageration...it was at least 2 ft long...the shell...the foot of the snail was enormous. he chucked it back to the tide pool. said if the "man" caught him with that..he would get some serious jail time...LMAO. and you are right...if some dude just came up and offered me something like that...id prolly dot his eyeball...lol

thanks again yall!

 

[celacanthr]

yep, that would be wierd. also conchs regularly get that large. You should also gotten lots of info from him about it. You will probably need it.

 

[re_vogel]

any update on hw this is doing???

 

[azocean709]

i have moved it from the Q tank into the DT....i has planted roots! I love that thing...very strange. I finally figured out how to put pics on here, so when i get my film developed, ill post it right up.

 

[sunburnt]

Hey- this was such an interesting little creature! Any updates or pics of this thing??

 

[sundance1]

Can't wait to see pics!