Brown polyps appearing in sand?

Tonycass12 · Dec 19, 2021

Noticed these brown polyps appearing on the underside of one of my frags and in the sand. I thought they might be some type of worm but when I sifted the sand a little I realized they were connected right to the little bits of sand.

Anyone have any ideas on what these are?

brmc1985 · Dec 19, 2021

Tonycass12 said:
Noticed these brown polyps appearing on the underside of one of my frags and in the sand. I thought they might be some type of worm but when I sifted the sand a little I realized they were connected right to the little bits of sand.

Anyone have any ideas on what these are?

Really tough to tell but it could be bryopsis. The only thing I am going on is that it looks fluffy and the palm frond type growth. If you can get a closer photo that would help but guessing this is the best you can get. Maybe pull one of them out and get a closer look.

Tonycass12 · Dec 20, 2021

brmc1985 said:
Really tough to tell but it could be bryopsis. The only thing I am going on is that it looks fluffy and the palm frond type growth. If you can get a closer photo that would help but guessing this is the best you can get. Maybe pull one of them out and get a closer look.

I'm 99% sure its not bryopsis. These look like tiny polyps. The only thing I've come across that looks similar are Stoloniferans but I'm not sure it fits the bill these "polyps" all seem to be individual and aren't connected in any way that i can tell. Ill try to get better pictures this afternoon. These things are really small so its difficult to get a clear shot.

This reef builders article had pictures of the polyp structure that looks closer then anything else I can find. https://reefbuilders.com/2019/07/08/hanabira-yukibana-a-new-species-of-encrusting-polyps/

Tonycass12 · Dec 20, 2021

Moved the frag so I could try and get some better photos. I can clearly make out an oral disk. These almost look like mini clove polyps to me, each of them is about the same size of the polyps on my stylo/birdsnest corals. They must have hitched a ride in on this frag. Im going to remove it later tonight and siphon out any that I can find on the sand in the off chance they are something that I really don't want.

#reefsquad