[SouthBayPhoto]

Hey all...

I finnnnnallllyyyy got something cool in my LR. However, I don't know what it is. LOL I just noticed it tonight when just my actinic light was on. I'm guessing it's a feather duster, but not sure. It looks like it's coming out of a very small white tube that is in my LR. At first I thought it was just a growth or algae, so I went to put my feeder stick in there to touch it and before I could get to it, it sucked itself into the tube. So, I figured it wasn't algae. I did my best to take a pic of it with the flash, but you can't see the little white tube it comes out of.

Reason I'm excited is when I first got the piece of LR, the moron at the LFS shook it out (vigorously, I might add ). I didn't know any better at the time, but now I realize he was trying to keep all the good critters in their tank instead of letting me take them home. GRRRR. That's why I'm excited to FINALLY see something on the LR except fuzz and algae.

If anyone can tell me what this is, it would be appreciated. Hopefully it's something good. LOL

If you look closely, I think you can see the white tube to the left of it going into the rock




Not sure the actinic shot helps, but I figured I'd throw it in there.

[ret25yo]

you have a mushroom.... what kind i dont recognize...

[SouthBayPhoto]

A mushroom can suck back into a tube like that? I didn't know they could do that. That's cool.

The picture is with it "fully extended". At least as much as I saw it go out.

It's hard to get a good angle on it (it's facing the side of the tank), to show the sides of it, so I can really only shoot it "head on".

[charlie]

I hate to disagree, but I believe it is some type of tube worm. I bet you have a bunch of them on the parts of the rock you can't see. Get in there with a flashlite at nite, you will probably see a bunch of stuff.

[scubadude]

Yup I agree w/charlie they are also known as feather dusters cuz of the way they look everyone calls them feather dusters, but they are technically a tube worm. You will more than likely start seeing them pop up more and more Mat Congrats

[ret25yo]

I should have looked at the picture longer then 2 seconds... yeah if it has a tube its a feather duster/ worm * a very cool one at that*

[SouthBayPhoto]

Thanks all!

Yup, got this pic of the actual "tube" today that the "feather duster" part comes out of. It was actually out in the light today too. Pretty cool. However, if my red-legged crab touches it (he's always on the LR), I'm going to have to kick his <beeeeeep>



Looks like a PVC pipe.

[zhenya]

Hi Mat,

Here's some reading material for you on the polychaetes that form calcareous and mucous type tubes.

The Worms Crawl In… by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

HTH

[SouthBayPhoto]

Wooohooo...cool...I'll have to check out the link. Thanks a bunch!