ID please?

[Ycore]

Spotted this guy in my tank today grazing the glass. Looks like a slug with a mottlec harcoal colored back and two little white antannae.. A nudibranch of some type? Reef safe?

 

[Elysia]

Additional photos would be helpful, especially ones where the animal isn't back lit. It could well be that the animal is harmless. If you can safely remove the animal and photograph it is a small cup of saltwater, that would be helpful.

 

[pagojoe]

It looks like it has parapodia like an Elysia species (which is what "Elysia" was hinting at) but the rhinophores look like true nudibranch rhinophores, although it is difficult to be sure from that photo. If it's a nudibranch, it's probably an arminid nudi, and not something you'd want in the tank. If it's a sacoglossan (Elysia or related species) it will be a nice algae eater.

Cheers,



Don

 

[Elysia]

I hate it when possibly interesting ID requests just die without being resolved... Please update if you are able.

 

[Ycore]

I've been unable to find the little bugger since the initial picture unfortunately, sorry. Previous to the shot above where he was crawling on the glass, he seemed to really like crawling through my clove polyps and making them close up. If I can find him again, I'll take a picture with the actinics off. I can tell you his shape is right on.. Has two little white antannae like things, a mottled charcoal covered back, and white underside.

 

[Elysia]

Wow, asking for an update never works! Well, give your softies a once over and see if the slug might be on them. I hope you do spot it again.

 

[pagojoe]

Well, I started to ask if it came in on clove polyps. It's probably an armnid nudibranch, which looks like a "regular" nudibranch (body and rhinophores) but has no external gill on the back. That's most likely what you found, and they do feed on clove polyps. You can search for "arminid" and "clove" on this forum or google it for more info.

Cheers,



Don

 

[Ycore]

Well that explains it.. I've been wondering why my clove polyps have been withering away despite everything else doing well.. Figured it was since the tank was geared towards low nutrients.. The little bugger is extremely well geared to hide himself amongst the dark base/stalks of the polyps.. I will yank the rock out today and see if I can find him, the polyps are on their last legs.. Odd though, I had dipped the polyps in Revive before putting them in my tank, but I guess he made it. It also definitely did not have any gill it's back.. It just looked like a salt and pepper colored slug/snail with two little antennae.