Unidentified Hitch Hiker

[Playful]

Hello everyone,

This "thing" has been lurking in my live rock for close to a month now. The strangest thing is when we finally did see it come out we tried to net it (praying it wasnt a jelly fish) but it left so quickly that it only left a shell of it's body behind. We thought maybe we killed it and tried to indentify it. The closest we could find was a ghost shrimp, however no shrimp that I have heard of can shed itself practically instantly. So we dismissed it until today, a week later, we find this "shedding" ontop of a rock. Another shell of itself just laying there. Does anyone know what this is? I have seen it in it's "live" form and it's fairly large at about 3 inches, does the backstroke (joke intended) and seems to have antenna's. I just don't know. Sorry it's not the best focus my camera is not a very good one. I've read everything I can on hitch hikers but this one seems to be in a class of it's own?

[Steve McKay]

Try your camera again there is know reason you can't get a clear shot of something laying on a table. As far as I can tell you made it with straws or pipe cleaners.

[Playful]

I was kinda hoping the instant shedding thing would've been a dead give a-way to someone alot more seasoned than myself but some things to note is its body in water is very transparent similar to that of a ghost shrimp. Does'nt seem to look like a Hydroid or a jellyfish so anyone's guess is as good as mine. It has 8 legs I guess, hard to tell what is legs, antenna, etc. I am new to this hobby so please go easy on me. :eek3:





My apologies if the images are not good. In it's shriveled up state it's small and the best I can do for now. If anyone has a guess as to what this might be I'd appreciate any info given as it is still living in my rocks.

[Steve McKay]

I was kinda hoping the instant shedding thing would've been a dead give a-way to someone alot more seasoned than myself but some things to note is its body in water is very transparent similar to that of a ghost shrimp. Does'nt seem to look like a Hydroid or a jellyfish so anyone's guess is as good as mine. It has 8 legs I guess, hard to tell what is legs, antenna, etc. I am new to this hobby so please go easy on me. :eek3:





My apologies if the images are not good. In it's shriveled up state it's small and the best I can do for now. If anyone has a guess as to what this might be I'd appreciate any info given as it is still living in my rocks.

I don't know what it is, but it is not a shrimp. Maybe if Ninong comes along he can help.

[AshleyJ]

Maybe it's a sea spider?

[Steve McKay]

Maybe it's a sea spider?

At first I thought you were kidding and you may have been. But I thought I'd Google sea spider anyway. It seems you might be right, good going. I didn't know such an animal existed.

Here's a link to follow Playful. Sea spider - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And another.Sea spider - Google Search

[bibs4353]

At first I thought you were kidding and you may have been. But I thought I'd Google sea spider anyway. It seems you might be right, good going. I didn't know such an animal existed.

Here's a link to follow Playful. Sea spider - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And another.Sea spider - Google Search

wow that thing is creepy

[Steve McKay]

wow that thing is creepy

Yea, kind of looked like my mother in law.

[AshleyJ]

Not sure if all sea spiders eat the same things, but I read on this site (Slideshow: Deep-sea Spiders Have a Snack - ScienceNOW) that they eat anemones.

[Playful]

Thanks everyone,

After much poking around, and resubmerging the molt into water to spred it out abit I do think also it is a sea spider. Though some how I am led to believe there is more than 1, as the thing we saw and the molts left behind do not match up.

So far we have collected 3 dead skins. 2 look like a ghost shrimp torn in half but the heads are intact. 1 as shown in the images above, am confident is now a sea spider. However the thing weve seen is 3-4 times larger than these "molts/dead-critters" and does'nt fit a sea spider profile - on top of all that everyone is translucent!

Whatever it is, it's big and it still lives. We just got baby hermits and a blue mushroom and I'm alittle paranoid. Additionally something to mention is all of our livestock (mostly COC and 2 small fish) all live on the right side of the tank. Nothing will go to the "sea monsters" side of the tank. Not even a crab will venture over there..very odd.

Here's a pic of the tank just for show, hopefully I can catch this thing in action soon.

[zhenya]

Sea spiders (Pycnogonida) eat not only sea anemones, they also eat hydroids, worms and other soft bodies cnidarians (including some of the soft corals).
Here's a link to more information and images of various types of sea spiders with their scientific names.
Discover Life - Pycnogonida - Sea spiders

Playful, if you can determine which rock this spider calls home you can try removing the rock and flashing it out with some carbonated water. That should flash just about any marine animal out of the holes they hide in.

You may also want to read Dr.Shimek's article about them here.

[Playful]

Thanks ,

We plan to replace some of the Live Rock this weekend, as you may have been able to tell from the photo some of the rock is man-made. (Live and learn) We plan to try your method and sincerely thank you for the tip. Before I do this, how long should I leave the rock in carbonated water before I can rest assure whatever is in it, is out?

[zhenya]

Thanks ,

We plan to replace some of the Live Rock this weekend, as you may have been able to tell from the photo some of the rock is man-made. (Live and learn) We plan to try your method and sincerely thank you for the tip. Before I do this, how long should I leave the rock in carbonated water before I can rest assure whatever is in it, is out?

I gather you had some issues with man made rocks? I wonder what those were.., if you feel like sharing it would be helpful to all I think to hear what sort of problems arise with this type of rock (aside from abvious that it isn't live rock ).

If you see which hole that creature hides in, pour some water in it and it should be jumping out almost instantly. Do it over a bucket or some other container so you can catch it and take a pix of it for us...

[Steve McKay]

Photos of this sea monster would be great!

[Playful]

I gather you had some issues with man made rocks? I wonder what those were.., if you feel like sharing it would be helpful to all I think to hear what sort of problems arise with this type of rock (aside from abvious that it isn't live rock ).

Nothing wrong with man-made rocks (believe this was made with some sort of concrete) as some people I'm sure may be going for this kinda thing, but in our case we ordered what was marketed as Live Rock and in fact what arrived was not. It is extremely heavy and very hard to work/build with. Guess we are being alittle bit picky when it comes to the rock as we really just want every piece to be LR.

Sadly, we are letting the sea monster live for awhile or at least until the new rock arrives/fully cures. Partially due to being too busy to pick up supplies and that no more dead bodies have surfaced as of yet -so just observing for now, but mega thanks for the know-how when the time comes. I have a feeling I will use that tip many times throughout this hobby, hehe. If I get it on film, I will definitely update.