strange creature lurking

[TimH07]

just this minute i was staring at my live rocks when i noticed something very strange. there is no way to get a clear shot with a camera, so i'll try to describe it for you.

i noticed what looks like a single shrimp arm/claw shooting out of a rock and picking on whatever it could grab on the surface of the rock. it was lightning fast and and reminded me of a snakes tongue firing out and retreating. the end was split and im pretty sure its a claw picking at the rock. it fires out of one hole a few times then another and moves around from inside the rock.

my best guess is it may be the source of my year old clicking in the tank (mantis/pistol shirmp?) but the arm is about an inch long, can go against the current so its not some tentacle, and bends around the contours of the rock.

it looks very similar to my peppermint shrimps arm but no joints.

any ideas?

p.s. the mentioned clicking is very very rare im not sure how often pistol/mantis click, but i only notice it every few weeks

[Future]

Sounds like a peanut worm to me. Mine shoot out from 1 rock to another, pluck it and retreat back within a second

[TimH07]

thanks for the reply but no, this pops out of one hole and half a second later it comes out of a hole 4 inches away. the only thing i can compare it to is a shrimp arm/claw.. its almost identical is very thin and transparentish

[Future]

Try getting a pic, otherwise it's all a guessing game

[Scissor Fish]

I believe mantis shrimp are generally green, so it is probably not one of those.

[metalhead]

thanks for the reply but no, this pops out of one hole and half a second later it comes out of a hole 4 inches away. the only thing i can compare it to is a shrimp arm/claw.. its almost identical is very thin and transparentish

The fact that it is picking the rocks is encouraging and leads to the conclusion that whatever it is it is eating algae and therefore either omnivorous or herbivorous. Do you think it could be a small crab of some kind?

I'm not 100% sure but I believe that all mantis shrimp are carnivorous and from my experience you'd be much more likely to see his eyes sticking out of the rock instead of an arm by itself if it were a mantis (which come in lots of different colors btw).

There would also be other indications besides the tell-tale clicking if you do have a mantis such as a rapidly dwindling crab/snail population and shrimp that mysteriously dissapear in the night.

[TimH07]

after looking a bit more at it, its not a shirmp arm anyway, but the most accurate way to describe this thing is it looks EXACTLY like a snakes tongue but much thinner, like hair thin, the forked end picks at the rock, it fires out of the hole and back in repeatedly then moves to a different hole. its odd.