Purple feathery tube worm

wwarby

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Apologies for the poor quality photo, this thing is tiny (about 5mm across) so it was hard to get a shot of it at all. It’s purple (photo colour is accurate) and lives in a tiny white tube. It got spooked when I turned the light on and retreated, but then came back out. Might be nocturnal because I’ve never seen it before and I’ve had this piece of live rock for at least 6 weeks. Grateful if anyone can tell me what it is and whether it’s good or bad?

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WheatToast

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The hitchhiker has a "half-circle" crown of feathers rather than the complete circle that feather dusters have, so my guess is that this is actually a barnacle, which are harmless, filter-feeding crustaceans. Can we get a picture of the shell it retreated into?
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wwarby

wwarby

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Feather duster worm. I have bunch of them. They come in different colors as well. Nothing to be concerned about.
Sweet! Thanks - I’m really enjoying seeing random things like these emerge from my live rocks. The lights are off now but I’ll try to get a picture of the tube tomorrow. It’s minuscule, but having looked up a feather duster work that looks about right to me :)
 

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