View Full Version : What are these little guys?
wantacookie
07/02/2010, 07:37 PM
Got some new live rock from Vanuatu and found these on the glass.
My camera is old, so this is the best I could do for a pic.
They are approximately 1/16 of an inch long. Kind of worm like. They hang on the glass by one end and sort of float their bodies away from the glass. What are they?
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b217/evoenvy/IMG_0509.jpg
t4zalews
07/02/2010, 08:30 PM
some type of amphipod or maybe a mysis...im no expert, but both look similar
wantacookie
07/02/2010, 09:21 PM
no worries then?
LeslieH
07/02/2010, 09:53 PM
Wrong phylum. They are tiny snails in the family Caecidae. Here's some pics of a Caecum species from Europe --
http://www.marlin.ac.uk/galleryimage.php?imageid=400
http://www.marlin.ac.uk/imgs/o_caearm.jpg
And just for fun, here's a good blog post about the related genus Fartulum http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2009/05/stop-giggling-taxon-of-week-fartulum.html
These tiny snails are very abundant. I can remember cursing a lot as I picked hundreds of them out of my samples in the Caribbean. They're detritivores & harmless.
Mountain_Medic
07/02/2010, 10:04 PM
They are vicious, coral eating monsters!!!! Kidding.
wantacookie
07/02/2010, 10:32 PM
Hehe, fartulum.
That is great information leslie. The pics in those links look just like them. Thank you!
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