Please ID These Critters

[retiredsailor]

I had just finished reseating my Frags, topping off the water and dosing. I sat down and started playing with my IPAD when Wifey asked me what the heck I did to her corals? I went over and saw some funky worm looking things. My first thought is Spaghetti Worms, but I am far from being an expert. Hence my predicament.

I tried using my turkey baster to remove them without any luck. All that accomplished was making the coral angry and moved around a tiny bit.

Also, I saw another critter earlier but was unable to get a picture worth looking at. It was orange and about the size of a grain of rice, but not smooth. It burrowed into the sand and disappeared. Any educated guesses? My uneducated guess was some kind of nudibranch, but again, I'm no expert.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Ian

 

[davescrews]

mesenterial filaments on the corals

 

[evolved]

Yup; those are the coral's mesenterial filaments. Coral guts.

 

[retiredsailor]

Thank you very much, Dave and Hunter. I will admit that I had to look it up, not because of disbelief but rather the fact I had never heard the name. I did consider that before posting (I've watched a lot of Nature and National Geographic and remember something that has it's stomach come out of the body to envelope prey) but was way too uncertain. Thanks again!

Ian

 

[Omegareefer0]

Whaaaat I gotta look this stuff up. Glad I stumbled on this. That seems so cool.