Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Feather dusters should not have a short and wide tube.. if the tube is wide - it should be tall, no?Yeah, feather duster worm, not a barnacle, but still cool and harmless.
Generally, yeah - I'm assuming the rest of the tube is out of view, but I could be wrong. It should be easy enough for the OP to verify if it's a feather duster or barnacle though:Feather dusters should not have a short and wide tube.. if the tube is wide - it should be tall, no?
Assuming it sends out a little clump of feathery appendages that fan out like a rake, then close in like fingers closing into a fist, I'd guess that's a coral-boring barnacle.
They're usually not a problem, but they do generally cause a little, dead/deformed patch around where they're burrowed in (and that patch tends to grow as the barnacle does). It being that close to the mouth is a bit concerning to me, but I haven't seen it on enough LPS like this to know if it's an issue.
If it fans out then rakes in like fingers closing into a fist, then it's a barnacle. If it just sends out the little crown of feathery appendages and basically sits with them fanned out in a circle, it's a feather duster worm. Either way, it's a harmless filter feeder.
I posted this a few days ago on the same rock, just an inch or so away, I wonder if it's the same critter and he just found a spot to settle in. When the worm was crawling I did see it briefly shoot out a red proboscis of some type.Generally, yeah - I'm assuming the rest of the tube is out of view, but I could be wrong. It should be easy enough for the OP to verify if it's a feather duster or barnacle though:
Different critters.I posted this a few days ago on the same rock, just an inch or so away, I wonder if it's the same critter and he just found a spot to settle in. When the worm was crawling I did see it briefly shoot out a red proboscis of some type.