I'm very curious what this is??

Lukey2018 · Jan 19, 2021

Hey, can anyone help ID what this is? I realise it is most likely some sort of sea cucumber, I'm just curious as to what species? I've never seen a sea cucumber that looks like this....

Soren · Jan 20, 2021

It looks like some kind of soft coral, since it seems to have a stalk for attachment seen at the bottom of the pictures and has many 8-tentacled polyps coming out of the sides.

I really don't have enough experience to say what kind of coral, but maybe someone else will be able to help.

Lukey2018 · Jan 21, 2021

Soren said:
It looks like some kind of soft coral, since it seems to have a stalk for attachment seen at the bottom of the pictures and has many 8-tentacled polyps coming out of the sides.

I really don't have enough experience to say what kind of coral, but maybe someone else will be able to help.

Thankyou for the answer. On doing a little bit more research, I believe now that it might actually be a Sea Pen. Very curious creature...

Soren · Jan 21, 2021

Lukey2018 said:
Thankyou for the answer. On doing a little bit more research, I believe now that it might actually be a Sea Pen. Very curious creature...

Yes, I think you are correct that it is a sea pen. I could not think of any corals that looked like that, and there are definitely sea pens with very similar appearance. Sea pens did not come to my mind because most pictures I have seen of them are types that look more like a feather than like yours.

I'm glad you likely discovered what it is and hope you can keep it alive. I have read that sea pens are very difficult to keep alive in aquariums.

Sea pen like yours, and another somewhat similar.