The rarest anthozoan you've never heard of...

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OldTownJoe

New member
One of the perks of my job is having dibs on all the rare stuff we get in at Old Town. And I have something in my tank that I'm pretty sure none of you have in yours. In fact, I'd wager to say that you've never even seen a photo of one, heard of one, or were aware this creature even existed on our planet.

A while ago I showed Jake Adam (he of reefbuilders fame) a specimen in our tanks and he was completely stumped as to what it may be, saying that he'd only seen them once before. After exhaustive searches through some zoological literature (thank you Google Scholar) I pinned an ID on this creature... and I'll be posting a photo later tonight.

Until then I'll leave you guessing as to what it may be...
 
Looking forward to the pic! With all the crazy stuff I have seen in the store I won't even try to speculate!
 
Considering how rare these are I'm thinking about selling them online for $300/polyp. Anyone can buy a Mummy-eye chalice or a Superman Monti or Purple Hornet Zoa... but NO ONE has these in their tanks. You TOO could have a brown anthozoan that looks like Aiptasia!!! Make those Japanese aquarists drool when they see these babies in your tank!!!!!!!1

Did I say $300... I mean $500.

They came in as hitchhikers, living buried in the sand or in crevices of the rocks, and they are capable of quick retraction. From tip to tip they are around an inch across, and the body buried in the sand is about an inch long. They reproduce occasionally, forming a tiny version of itself next to the parent. In the six months they've been in my tanks I've gone from four of these to seven.

First one to guess the family on these gets a BMW.
 
400gallonnano said:
What does it seem to be eating or how is it surviving?
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It'll feed on mysis if it comes into contact with it, though I rarely see it actually capturing any. The brown coloration and the fact that it's successfully reproducing without any attempt to supplement its diet indicates that it is zooxanthellate.
 
Simpsons-KillItWithFire.gif
 
BADGUS said:
Nematostella Vectensis?
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:the20man:

I'll give you credit, as you have the correct family, Edwardsiidae. It's not likely to be the Atlantic species Nematostella, as this would have had to come in on Pacific coral/live rock. There's a good chance it is in Edwardsia (or something like it), as that is the largest genus and one of the few with tropical representatives. But only an anemone expert with a specimen in hand could make that assessment.

Well done, you guys surprised me by beating reef_central at IDing this.
Chicago Reefs gets a tip of the hat.
 
Cool beans,In the future i would like to start a new reef tank,besides our small 30g and do an invert heavy display,that's my main interest.
 
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