2 New Urchins found in the tank!! Identify?

[funman1]

These are the two little guys I have been catching glimps's of in the tank. But today they were out in the open for some shots.

I'm thinking pencil urchins?

~Steve~

 

[Sk8r]

Looks like a pencil urchin.

 

[willjeff]

I don't think pencil urchins, the pencils have more blunt spines. Possibly rock boaring?

 

[wombat2]

I found one that looked very much like this as well. It was in a 2 gallon tank, so I got to see real well if it was damaging coral. As far as I could tell it wasn't snacking on anything desirable. That may change when it gets larger.

 

[yoshiod9]

too funny, i just found one of these in my tank in early june (he was probably the size of a dime in diameter then)-- now, he's about the diameter of a quarter/fifty cent piece. it looks exactly the same as the ones you have... luckily, i haven't noticed him ever leave the spot that he's currently located in.

neat little bugger, but i'm still trying to figure out where he came from-- i haven't added any new rock or anything and the only corals i've added have been sps frags.

 

[tacocat]

They are rock boring.

 

[Jacob D]

Yep, rock boring urchins. I watched one of them slowly hollow out a big cave in a piece of rock over a couple weeks... I guess I had nothing better to do

If you look closely at them you can see all their little black tenticles.

 

[Sheldon337]

I found one of these in my tank too.

Are rock boring urchins destructive? Should it be removed?

It seems to be growing rather fast.

Lee

 

[funman1]

Yes mine were very tiny a few months ago, and now about the size of a quarter.

I have no idea where mine came from either. My tank has been running for 9 months now so I have no idea what these came in on?

These guys are chowing down on my coraline. Which is fine with me.