What is sweet baby Jesus is this!!!

DD

DD

"Rambo"
What in sweet baby Jesus is this!!!

Just saw this on my glass, it's like the size of a half dollar, and yeah I took it out. Any clue as to what the hell it is???

 
Actually I think I just figured it out. I think it's a limpet although I've never seen one like this before!

If anyone has any info on this exact type I would be interested in reading about it.
 
This tank will be coming down. Working on some ideas for a replacement. Gonna go all new dry rock too.
 
Yep, it appears to be a limpet of some sort - whether it's a "false" or "true" limpet, I can't tell from the underside. If you could get me a photo of the top surface, I might be able to narrow it down for you and give you some more details.
 
Lynn Z said:
Yep, it appears to be a limpet of some sort - whether it's a "false" or "true" limpet, I can't tell from the underside. If you could get me a photo of the top surface, I might be able to narrow it down for you and give you some more details.
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Hi Lynn, unfortunately I don't have it any longer. Didn't want to chance it in my reef or sump just in case it is able to procreate by itself.

The top half was that same peach color and it went over the limpets shell. It had a tiny hole that came through the tissue, inline with the hole in the limpets shell. Best I could find, and Tethered Limbs mentioned was that it was a fleshy limpet. Reviews on them being reef safe were pretty scarce so I just took precautions.

I would be interested in learning more about them though. I highly doubt that was the only one lol!
 
Yep, it sounds like a "fleshy" limpet, which is a species of Lucapina in the family Fissurellidae ("Keyhole Limpets" - not "true" limpets). Here's what I know about them:

  • They're able to extend their soft tissue mantle over the entire surface of the shell instead of just skirting the outside edges.
  • Coverage of the shell varies - from complete to not at all.
  • Sometimes the mantle edges can be frilly, other times, flat.
  • Mantle and shell color/pattern can vary within a given species.
  • Seem to prefer hard surfaces - rockwork, glass, equipment and such.
  • Mostly come from the Western Atlantic - Florida and the Caribbean, down to Brazil.
  • Mostly nocturnal in the wild.
  • Although I've had some Diodora spp. (another fissurellid) reproduce in my tanks, I haven't experienced or heard of any Lucapina spp. doing so.
  • Diet: These seem to be omnivorous, mostly grazing microalgae as well as small sessile invertebrates from the rocks (e.g., sponges, hydroids, etc.). However, I have read about, and seen photos of, some individuals consuming coral tissue. It's not a given that your individual might have done this, but it was a possibility, so I don't blame you for being proactive!

Here's a good link with an example of a species I've seen several times as a hitchhiker:
http://z14.invisionfree.com/Conchologist_Forum/index.php?showtopic=984&st=0&#last
 
Lynn Z said:
Yep, it sounds like a "fleshy" limpet, which is a species of Lucapina in the family Fissurellidae ("Keyhole Limpets" - not "true" limpets). Here's what I know about them:

  • They're able to extend their soft tissue mantle over the entire surface of the shell instead of just skirting the outside edges.
  • Coverage of the shell varies - from complete to not at all.
  • Sometimes the mantle edges can be frilly, other times, flat.
  • Mantle and shell color/pattern can vary within a given species.
  • Seem to prefer hard surfaces - rockwork, glass, equipment and such.
  • Mostly come from the Western Atlantic - Florida and the Caribbean, down to Brazil.
  • Mostly nocturnal in the wild.
  • Although I've had some Diodora spp. (another fissurellid) reproduce in my tanks, I haven't experienced or heard of any Lucapina spp. doing so.
  • Diet: These seem to be omnivorous, mostly grazing microalgae as well as small sessile invertebrates from the rocks (e.g., sponges, hydroids, etc.). However, I have read about, and seen photos of, some individuals consuming coral tissue. It's not a given that your individual might have done this, but it was a possibility, so I don't blame you for being proactive!

Here's a good link with an example of a species I've seen several times as a hitchhiker:
http://z14.invisionfree.com/Conchologist_Forum/index.php?showtopic=984&st=0&#last
Click to expand...

Wow! Thank you Lynn!

I'm pretty sure it had to have hitchhiked on my live rock, which was your typical Florida live rock. The initial notion that drove me to buying it when I first set my tank up is that it was so colorful and fully covered in coralline. Well, the bad part is all the little nasty surprises I've been finding.

I am always wondering what will appear next lol! But like the old saying goes, when in doubt, rip it out haha!

Thanks again for the details, a large part of the reason I've kept various aquaria so long is that you never stop learning!
 
You're very welcome, Dominick! I love Florida rock but it can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there's always a lot more life that survives shipping, but on the other hand, some of that life isn't so welcome. Here's one for the definitely rip it out category: a red algae that looks like the following (same goes for the green feather Caulerpa in the next photo down). It's invasive and very hard to get rid of. I tried every kind of snail I could find and none would eat it:
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Here's what it looked like just before I had to tear down the tank
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Thankfully, there are always more good guys than bad guys, for instance: the "Hidden Cup Coral" Phyllangia americana. The size of the corallite, without the tentacles, is about 3/8". Tentacles are up to ~1 3/4". These are hardy and neat to have around.
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Cladocora arbuscula, polyps extended. Not quite as hardy as the above coral, but still neat for as long as they're around.
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Here's something that throws a lot of people. Those fine tentacles are dendrochirote feeders from a rock-dwelling sea cucumber (main body of cuke is <1" in length). What's neat is that each tendril works independently. That is, all are extended into the water but each retracts/curls in towards the mouth as it snags a food item.
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I've got some more photos of Florida rock hitchhikers in my photo albums. I don't have all of them loaded yet, but there's a sampling available. Eventually, I'll have an album just for Florida rock. It's just fun to see the scope of different life forms that show up!

Take care, Lynn
 
Thanks Lynn!! I think I've seen all of the above with the exception of the invasive algae. The only one that came along is halimeda, which I've had zero luck getting rid of lol!
 
Whew! Halimeda is a walk in the park compared to the red nightmare! By the way, have you checked out your tank at night yet, after the lights have been out for an hour or so? All sorts of things start coming out of the woodwork then!
 
Lynn Z said:
Whew! Halimeda is a walk in the park compared to the red nightmare! By the way, have you checked out your tank at night yet, after the lights have been out for an hour or so? All sorts of things start coming out of the woodwork then!
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Lol! I have checked out the tank at night before! The weirdest thing I saw was tiny little worms darting around the water column. It was so strange. From what I read I think they must have been a type of bristle worm. I really had to rub my eyes a few times because they appeared to be breaking the laws of physics lol!
 
Heheeee! You just never know what you're likely to see! The critter below scared a couple of years off my life awhile back. I was staring into the tank one night...and got up real close...and zoom...that thing flew by right in front of my face. I let out a scream, jumped back about a foot or two, and had one thought...you little (bleep), you are so dead! About five minutes later, he was! It was a cirolanid isopod (~5/8") - a nasty little parasite that attaches itself to fish and dines on their fluids. Sometimes they attach at night and drop off by the time morning comes around so all you see is a seemingly unexplainable wound on one of your fishes. Hopefully, you've never had a run-in with one of these, and never will!
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Those are nasty little boogers! One member on here just had to deal with them recently.

I think I had dealt with them during my saltwater stint in the 90's. I had tried a reef tank, failed miserably, then converted right to fish only. I noticed that when I turned the lights on my wrasses would come out of the sand and had something attached to them and disappeared as you mentioned. I wasn't sure what they were, and seeing how I didn't have inverts, I dosed the whole tank with copper. Never saw them again lol!

Thanks again Lynn, I love all these things that go bump in our tanks lol! Well, I don't love them in the sense that I want them, but you know what I mean lol!
 
ddiomede said:
Those are nasty little boogers! One member on here just had to deal with them recently.
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Oh yikes - poor thing. Those can be a real pain to get rid of if/when they get entrenched in a system. I was really lucky to just have the one.

ddiomede said:
I think I had dealt with them during my saltwater stint in the 90's. I had tried a reef tank, failed miserably, then converted right to fish only. I noticed that when I turned the lights on my wrasses would come out of the sand and had something attached to them and disappeared as you mentioned. I wasn't sure what they were, and seeing how I didn't have inverts, I dosed the whole tank with copper. Never saw them again lol!
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Bwahahaaa -good!! That's the advantage of having a FO - you can get out the big guns and nuke 'em!


ddiomede said:
Thanks again Lynn, I love all these things that go bump in our tanks lol! Well, I don't love them in the sense that I want them, but you know what I mean lol!
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You're very welcome, Dominick, I know exactly what you mean! I've seen some of the neatest things pop up in other people's tanks that I hoped never to see in mine! It's just neat to see them, period...sort of like a great white shark. It's something I'd like to see, but not when I'm in the water with it....or in an inflatable raft!:fear:
 
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