Baby urchin? What is this?

[SillyDox]

Hey guys!

Anyone know what this is? It rode in on a coral frag... Trying to determine if it's a friend or foe.

Thanks!

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[Sk8r]

Doesn't look foe-ish. Might be a sea squirt or tunicate. They don't live long in our nutrient poor tanks. They don't move much. If it moves, it's probably not that.

 

[SillyDox]

Doesn't look foe-ish. Might be a sea squirt or tunicate. They don't live long in our nutrient poor tanks. They don't move much. If it moves, it's probably not that.

Thanks for the quick response!

I just did a quick Google for Sea squirts and tunicates and it doesn't appear to look like them! I'll try to take more pictures when I get home tonight, but it has little pins that stick out from it, that's why I thought it was maybe urchin related but I'm a noob haha.

Thanks!

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[Anemone]

Some ball sponges have "spikes' that project outward like that. Does it move?

Kevin

 

[SillyDox]

Some ball sponges have "spikes' that project outward like that. Does it move?

Kevin

He hasn't moved so far as I can tell! I'll update in a couple hours when I'm off work

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[billdogg]

I'm gonna vote for a sponge of some sort (assuming it's still there!)

If it were a baby urchin it would look just like a larger one, just TINY!

About 20 years ago I brought home a small coral from the LFS. I noticed what appeared to be a very small urchin on it - about BB sized. I've had it ever since. It is now nearly softball sized and happily comes out at night and scours my rocks of algae (both green and coraline). Its easy to follow it's path - there is a wide super clean section here or there. Probably the best freebie hitchhiker ever.