New hitchhiker found in sand bed small long crustacean

[oool8899]

Found this strange thing in the sand bed with some coral, doesnt seem to be eating them but can build a tube den really fast out of sand and other stuff. Hes short for a worm but very tubular in shape and hes hard to the touch but you can also see all his legs on the bottom and his two small eyes, im certain some kind of crustacean just not sure if its some inocuous one or a small mantis shrimp, he definitely has some umph when he swims he almost swims like an amphipod.

 

[oool8899]

He rolled to the side

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Probably a tanaid:

Tanaids are generally scavengers eating detritus/algae, but a few eat worms and copepods.

 

[oool8899]

Honestly about what it looks like, says some get 4 inches id like to see that

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Honestly about what it looks like, says some get 4 inches id like to see that

Yeah, there are a few other pods that look similar (in this case, a few amphipods would be my next guess), but the tail leads me to believe it's a tanaid.

If you can get closer pics (particularly of the head and tail from above and the claws from the side) then I could tell you for sure, but none of the critters I know that look like this should cause issues for you (the worm and pod eating is as bad the ones I'm aware of get).

 

[Tired]

Cool find! I have a smaller version of these, I think. I'd taken them for strange amphipods.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Cool find! I have a smaller version of these, I think. I'd taken them for strange amphipods.

Yeah, Tanaids, Anthuroidean Isopods, and a handful of amphipods all look pretty similar.