Crit21
04/04/2006, 06:34 PM
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/78654stomatella_varia_4.jpg [IMG]
I was looking at the corals with a flashlight after dark to check out the polyps when I saw this thing on the overflow. It almost jumped when the light hit it, and it kind of crawled as it turned around and scooted around the side. I thought it was some kind of predator at first, but after researching on the Net I determined it to be a somatella varia. Apparently it's just an algae eater, which is a good thing. It's about an inch and a half long. You can see the antennae and head at the top, and the shell is the top right hand quarter of the pic.
I was looking at the corals with a flashlight after dark to check out the polyps when I saw this thing on the overflow. It almost jumped when the light hit it, and it kind of crawled as it turned around and scooted around the side. I thought it was some kind of predator at first, but after researching on the Net I determined it to be a somatella varia. Apparently it's just an algae eater, which is a good thing. It's about an inch and a half long. You can see the antennae and head at the top, and the shell is the top right hand quarter of the pic.