ID Please

[bpittman]

I got the tentacles on my live rock can anyone tell me what they are?

I also found this crab can any one ID him too. Thanks in advance.

Brian

 

[J. Montgomery]

I have the same "tentacles" in my tank. I'm not positive but I think they fall into the generic category of "spaghetti" worms.

 

[KUDA]

The crab is some sort of porcelein crab, and from what I understand is reef safe.

 

[mamagoose45]

The tentacles honestly look like the legs of some tiny serpent stars. If I'm not mistaken, spaghetti worms look clear and very wavy in the water.

 

[jakesgvr4]

I was thinking serpent star also. I think the spaghetti worms are the clearish guys, then extend a little bit and built little tubes out of the sand, right?

 

[Reefmack]

I have something very similar also, with the dark bands on the tentacles. I usually only see 2-3 of the tentacles poking out of a small hole in the rock, and whatever it is is there every day lately. If they were serpent stars would they stay in the rock? Mine wave around with the current so some type of worm would seem more likely.

 

[bpittman]

As you can see I updated the photo to show that there are more than one set of "tentacles". Actually the rock is covered. There is all kinds of stuff on the rock, I bought it for the mushrooms it had.

I was observing the crab and I noticed him using two tiny appendages to shoot out, they had little filters at the end of each like feather dusters almost, maybe this can help identify him more. Thanks for all the help so far.

Brian

 

[Reefmack]

I have several also - I should have said typically 2-3 tentacles from each of numerous holes in my LR.

 

[KUDA]

The feathery things are the porcelein crab's filter feeding appendages. Porceleins also accept larger fish foods. I'm pretty sure that all types of porceleins are reef safe, maily because they are so small and don't eat other invertabrates.

 

[JackKerouac]

in the first picture it looks like small Ophiura tentacles to me,I have them too,good in a reef tank

 

[Reefmack]

If it is Ophiura stars, do they ever venture out of the holes in the rock? The tentacles on the ones I see sticking out of my rock are only about 1/4 - 3/8 inch long. Maybe they're just young ones?

 

[Reefmack]

I came across this site in another post, and the picture on the main page under Cirratulids looks a lot like these things:

http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/hitchworms.html

Maybe that's what they are?

 

[JackKerouac]

my Ophiuras hide in the rocks and you can see only the tentacles like in your pic,but I have to see that also this Cirratulid worm has similar tentacles

 

[graveyardworm]

The tentacles are micro brittle stars. They either belong to the Family Ophiactidae, or the Family Amphiuridae.

The crab is too blurry to tell what kind.

 

[bpittman]

Thanks for all the help in ID'ing the creatures. How big will these starfish get?

Brian