Leather Coral Parsite..

[Rippey]

Would a mod please sticky this for one week (Feb 27 - Mar 27) to see if this parsite that attacked my leather coral can be ID? I have a post about it http://thereeftank.com/forums/showth...t=95836&page=3. It would greatly be apprciatede by me. If any one has an idia or knows what it is please post!

[LeslieH]

This is not the culprit if there's damage to your leather. It's a cirratulid polychaete. These are strictly detritus/particle eaters and wouldn't eat a coral. A cirratulid might live near or on a leather but that's nothing to worry about.

[mcarver]

But if you read his experience with this guy.. he dug him out of the bottom of his leather..like

[LeslieH]

Okay, I went back and read the whole thread. I have a hard time believing the hole was caused by the cirratulid - not unless I see actual footage of one caught in the act! Cirratulids feed by catching food with their tentacles or everting their proboscis (literally the lining of their anterior digestive tract) which is sticky & picking up detritus. They do like to live in burrows however, and will happily settle down in holes and burrows left by other animals.

On the other hand, if it really is true that it caused the hole that bit of info would be worth a short paper in a scientific journal (with full credit to the finder of course). If anyone else finds a similar worm in a leather please contact me before killing it!

[Rippey]

If it wasnt the reason. Why was it in the bottom of the leather, I cut it out myself.

[LeslieH]

It might have crawled in looking for a good home or the free-swimming larvae settled there. Cirratulids are very common in crevices and under corals. I did check out Tom Wyatt's message about a worm parasite in holes in Sarcophyton. http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87392 While I've never heard of a cirratulid being a predator on anything that doesn't mean it's impossible. I sent him a PM asking for more info to see if it's the same worm you have.

[ChrisPrusha]

Thanks, Leslie!

[LeslieH]

Hah! I knew it wasn't the worm!

Tom was nice enough to do some research. He's posted some interesting information in this other thread about a leather pest: http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87392 Turns out the likeliest culprit for Rippey's hole is a nudibranch. There's one named Phyllodesmium hyalinum that's known to bore into Xenia stalks. There's some good images at http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=phylhyal

[Rippey]

Intresting pic, so hopfuly my worm will be looked at closly. That makes me nervous if it a harmless worm using a burrow, the realy one is still lose. Hopfully when some pics get done we can tell for shure. Thanks for the nudi link. Keeping my eyes peeld out for anything that looks like that incase my worms realy wasnt the curprat.