strange little guy

[edawgm]

First off let me say I do not have a good camera to get a pic of this thing but will try to describe it as best as I can :unsure . I don't have a real good description of it since it is in a hole in a rock but the hole is maybe 1cm in diameter. It looks as though it has a cover to seal off its hole but does come out a little to extend a web like string out. Once it has something caught in the web it pulls it back in. Any ideas on what this could be?

Sorry I don't have much more of a description but it never really comes out of the hole. Just looking for any input that every one has about it. As far as I can tell it is not harmful since the web does get on the devils hand leather and it seems to be collecting debris from the water.

Thanks

[dwdenny]

sounds like a spaghetti worm. Does it look like this? They do eat detritus so they are not that bad but they can irritate zoanthids and other polyp type corals. Good to have for the most part but they can get a little out of control.hth
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/dwdenny/DSCN1359.jpg

[MattK]

Sounds like a Vermetid that hasn't build a large tube yet.

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/worms/photoalbum_photo_view?b_start=7

[Ram_Puppy]

that is what i was thinking matt.

[dwdenny]

What ever it is sounds harmless but I would watch it as it could be an irritate corals.

[Ram_Puppy]

vermetid snails are sessile inverts, they don't look like a traditional snale w/ a foot and a shell. vermetid snails build a hard calcerous tube that looks very much like a tube worms. they cast a mucous net out into the tank to grab food, and then pull it back in.

normally they are no problem, but sometimes they can breed out of control... and they absolutely suck if you puncture your thumb w/ run moving live rock around.

[edawgm]

All I can say is that it does not look like any of those. It is not in a tube just a hole in the rock and it lifts its cover up to stick out a little and pull the web back in. And as fare as the web, it looks just like a spider’s web. Thin and translucent

[Ram_Puppy]

well it could be a vermetid that is either young, or encased in coraline so you can't see it's tube.

does the web look like a permenant appendage, or somethind disposable?

how large is it?

One of my coral pieces grew over and around a barnacle, which has a little hole, and it pops it's little filter feeding arm out every few seconds, that looks like a tiny web...

[edawgm]

Like I said it is in a hole in a rock the hole is maybe about 1cm in diameter and the web looks disposable. In fact, I would have to say that it is since I have seen some web like strings in that area that are not attached.

[Ram_Puppy]

some animals can very easily be surrounede by live rock or a fast growing coraline algae, or it could be that a vermitid larvae simply settled in a hole and is growing there...

what you describe seems to be a vermetid snail to me... i could be wrong, but I really think that's what it is.

here is a picture of a 4cm wide vermitid in palau that is embedded in the rock.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rs/images/image003.jpg

[jroescher]

From ReefKeeping, Dr. Shimeck


The white feeding tentacles of a terebellid or spaghetti worm always radiate from a burrow, tube opening or hole. These tentacles collect food particles from the surface of the sediment and convey it back to the worm’s mouth.


Look here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/rs/index.php

Also look at this picture:
http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/worms/cirratulid_or_hair_worm_guy.jpg/view
Really looks close to the same picture you posted.

[edawgm]

I guess it could be that but still does not look like them. I mean its web is usually only like one string that will go out to about 6". I will try to figure out a way to maybe get a picture if I can.

[Ram_Puppy]

the thing that clenches it for me is you described a covering... of the two animals being discussed, only vermetid snails have an operculum.

[Thunderkat]

Does it look like the head of a snail with a string coming out from the mouth?

[edawgm]

Does it look like the head of a snail with a string coming out from the mouth?

In a way it does but it is hard to tell being so small and that it does not come out that much. But at time it does seem like I see 2 little eyes poking out when it is retracting the web. But I don't have macro vision to see it up close :blink

Ram_Puppy I think you are right. because of what I can see of it and it does have a operculum that looks just like the rock.