Id Help Please Sorry no photo

[Vinnie71975]

I just set up a new 10g sw tank and the piece of live rock i got came with an hitchhiker that i have no clue what it is. Its a Shellfish of some kind looks like a Clam only the shell is Emerald Green, shell shape is similar to a clam or scallop any ideas?

 

[Carlos]

Could be anything. Without a picture, it is virtually impossible to ID.

Carlos

 

[Sk8r]

THe green color could be natural, could be algae. Small clams often hitchhike. None that I know are a problem, except that they rarely live long and can spike the nitrates when they demise. Test immediately if you note it not opening or fuzzing up in rot.
Bristleworms and nassarius snails are your best defense against that sort of thing. If your tank maintains a supply of those creatures, they will take care of any unseen demises. If you should get a nitrate spike, an immediate water change will lower nitrates: stay prepared with ro/di water and salt, and of course do your weekly 10% water change.

 

[Vinnie71975]

i was thinking maybe it was a green Mussel but all the photos of them only the tip of the shell is green the one i have the WHOLE shell is emerald green, its actually really cool looking! but its tiny like less than 1/2 inch total.

 

[Vinnie71975]

Anyone Know of a good site for IDing Scallops? i am almost sure its a type of Scallop.

 

[pagojoe]

I don't think there are any emerald green scallops. The only emerald green bivalves I can think of are mussels, as you mentioned, plus a couple of other obscure species. Julia exquisita is a bivalved opisthobranch, and is bright green, but it crawls like a snail.

http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=juliexqu

One or two species in the genus Nucinella may also be bright green, but these are rarely encountered. I couldn't find a pic of a green one, but the shape should be similar to the second pic from the top on this page:

http://www.nrm.se/theswedishmuseumo...ctions/zoology/invertebratezoology.44_en.html

Google search for "green mussel" and see if yours looks like that. If none of these are a match, it might be external coloring (algae) instead of shell coloration (or it could be something that I'm not thinking of).

If you want to sort through photos of scallops, try www.conchology.be and search through the genus Pectinidae.

Cheers,



Don