Can anyone identify this “thing”
- Thread starter Doles
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- algae idenfitifaction
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Those are colonial tunicates - harmless filter feeders, but some species can be a bit invasive. You should be able to scrape them off if they get out of hand though.
Yeah, those are definitely colonial tunicates. For some examples of other colonial tunicates see the second quote below:
Haha, yeah sorry - that's part of why I threw in the TLDR at the bottom there. Here are some photos of colonial tunicates with similar body structure (and some with - from what I can tell - similar coloration) to help decide if it is a colonial tunicate:
(The two above images are from here: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/11/977 )
And the link below has a bunch more pics (some are different colonial tunicates like above, some are solitary tunicates):
Ascideacea
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu
Subsea
5000 Club Member
To the right of your circle of interest looks to be a red ball encrusting sponge that I get on Gulf of Mexico uncured live rock.Does anyone know what are those pink “beads” on the algae?
If you identify where the rock came from, it would assist in research.
Last edited:
Rick's Reviews
2500 Club Member
Looks great, definitely adds colour
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Agreed with the above, but, OP, if you don't know where it came from, I'd guess Botrylloides violaceus - it generally comes in either orange, or some variation of this pink/white mix, sometimes with a little orange thrown in (see the links below):
description of Botrylloides violaceus - Orange cloak sea squirt
www.european-marine-life.org
Subsea
5000 Club Member
Gulf Live Rock.com
gulfliverock.com
Check out this list of hitchhikers from GOM, Gulf of Mexico:
Colorful Bryozones are a favorite as well as are red encrusting sponges and limpets.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
Read carefully as this looks to be highly invasive:
Botrylloides violaceus is native to the Northwest Pacific from northern Japan to southern Korea and northern China. It has been widely introduced to the Northeast Pacific, the Northwest Atlantic, and parts of the Northeast Atlantic. On the West Coast of North America, it was first discovered in Santa Barbara, California in 1966 and has since spread along the coast from Mexico to Alaska. On the East Coast, it was found in New England in the late 1970s and can now be found from the Chesapeake Bay to Newfoundland, Canada. It is a common fouling organism throughout much of its introduced range. It frequently displaces other fouling organisms, including native and introduced tunicates, bryozoans, barnacles, and mussels through competition for space and food.
Image Credit: Melissa Frey, Royal BC Museum, Canada
Botrylloides violaceus is native to the Northwest Pacific from northern Japan to southern Korea and northern China. It has been widely introduced to the Northeast Pacific, the Northwest Atlantic, and parts of the Northeast Atlantic. On the West Coast of North America, it was first discovered in Santa Barbara, California in 1966 and has since spread along the coast from Mexico to Alaska. On the East Coast, it was found in New England in the late 1970s and can now be found from the Chesapeake Bay to Newfoundland, Canada. It is a common fouling organism throughout much of its introduced range. It frequently displaces other fouling organisms, including native and introduced tunicates, bryozoans, barnacles, and mussels through competition for space and food.
Image Credit: Melissa Frey, Royal BC Museum, Canada
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