Please ID

[tonyh67]

Found this critter yesterday, is it a baby urchin...it is about 1/4" across?

 

[aquababy]

Yes, it looks one to me as well!

 

[hdtran]

Yes, Tony,

And in about 2 months, he'll (she'll?) be about ping-pong ball size (spine-to-spine). In 3 or 4, maybe tennis ball size (tip of spine to tip of spine).

Hy

 

[goblinsharkman]

looks lik a baby pencil urchin

 

[tonyh67]

My first thought was pencil urchin too...

 

[M.Dandaneau]

Yeppers on the pencil urchin.

Did it come in on the LR or do you have adfults in the tank?

While breeding inverts that have delayed stages that are planktonic is rare, a couple of years ago we had a species of sea anemone that is normally symbiotic with hermit crabs do the eggs/sperm thing in the tank, and a few weeks later had tiny little anemones on every snail, rock, and as you can see here, even sea cucumber in the tank.

Mike

 

[tonyh67]

Yep, came on the TBS liverock...still doing well I might add.

 

[M.Dandaneau]

I use urchins like "miner's canaries" in my FOWLR tanks.....if they start to shed spines or if the spines start to drop, you know the parameters are off.

Mike