Hammer growth

[Reefnski]

Hi, I have two tubes growing on or out of my hammer. Are these additional heads or something else? Thanks!

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Look like vermetid to me.

 

[BonnieB]

Hi, I have two tubes growing on or out of my hammer. Are these additional heads or something else? Thanks!

All my vermitids are brown and come straight up. These look like tunicates to me. @ISpeakForTheSeas ?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hi, I have two tubes growing on or out of my hammer. Are these additional heads or something else? Thanks!

All my vermitids are brown and come straight up. These look like tunicates to me. @ISpeakForTheSeas ?

Definitely not additional heads - the way the one in the back curves up and over something before jutting up leads to me believe it's not a tunicate, but if there are actually four tubes/holes total back there, I may be wrong.

I'd guess either a large Vermetid snail species or a feather duster worm species (this one would probably be pretty obvious, though, so a Vermetid seems more likely):

yeah, vermetid snails and some feather dusters' tubes (most commonly in the hobby, Serpulid worms) are both calcium carbonate and can look very similar.

A lot of the time you can tell them apart sort of instinctively (in this case, the pinkish color and the dark lines segmenting the width of the tube cued me in), but other times you may need to rely on seeing either a mucus web or feather crown (if the tube is inhabited) or if the inside of the tube is shiny (if it's shiny, that's nacre from a snail, so it's a vermetid tube; a dull/matte interior would mean a feather duster tube).

If the tubes are leathery instead of hard, that would indicate a feather duster (just not a Serpulid feather duster).

 

[BonnieB]

Hi, I have two tubes growing on or out of my hammer. Are these additional heads or something else? Thanks!

All my vermitids are brown and come straight up. These look like tunicates to me. @ISpeakForTheSeas ?

Definitely not additional heads - the way the one in the back curves up and over something before jutting up leads to me believe it's not a tunicate, but if there are actually four tubes/holes total back there, I may be wrong.

I'd guess either a large Vermetid snail species or a feather duster worm species (this one would probably be pretty obvious, though, so a Vermetid seems more likely):

yeah, vermetid snails and some feather dusters' tubes (most commonly in the hobby, Serpulid worms) are both calcium carbonate and can look very similar.

A lot of the time you can tell them apart sort of instinctively (in this case, the pinkish color and the dark lines segmenting the width of the tube cued me in), but other times you may need to rely on seeing either a mucus web or feather crown (if the tube is inhabited) or if the inside of the tube is shiny (if it's shiny, that's nacre from a snail, so it's a vermetid tube; a dull/matte interior would mean a feather duster tube).

If the tubes are leathery instead of hard, that would indicate a feather duster (just not a Serpulid feather duster).

I totally missed the coming up and over. After looking at what you’re talking about, the striations on the tubes look like feather dusters tubes don’t they?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I totally missed the coming up and over. After looking at what you’re talking about, the striations on the tubes look like feather dusters tubes don’t they?

Yeah, but some Vermetid species have similar- the link below shows some examples of relatively similar tubes:

Vermetidae, Marshall Islands

www.underwaterkwaj.com

That's why I tend to fall back on the methods mentioned above:

-feather crown and matte interior (and sometimes a leathery tube)? Feather duster.

-mucus web and shiny interior (and always hard/solid, never soft/leathery)? Vermetid snail.

 

[BonnieB]

Yeah, but some Vermetid species have similar- the link below shows some examples of relatively similar tubes:

Vermetidae, Marshall Islands

www.underwaterkwaj.com

That's why I tend to fall back on the methods mentioned above:

-feather crown and matte interior (and sometimes a leathery tube)? Feather duster.

-mucus web and shiny interior (and always hard/solid, never soft/leathery)? Vermetid snail.

So interesting to learn to distinguish what seems minor but is really not!

 

[bluemon]

Definitely vermetids.

They love building long curly tubes in between euphyllia heads.

 

[Miami Reef]

I never had these before, but they started popping up around my tank very recently.

 

[BonnieB]

I never had these before, but they started popping up around my tank very recently.

I have them but they are all brown. Never seen translucent ones. I have a bumblebee army to keep them in check!