Weird stringy thing that retracts when touched

[nessyyy]

Hi all, can anyone ID this thing coming out from my Devil's hand coral?

I thought it was a thread at first, tried to grab it out and it retracted

Apologies for the terrible thread title.

 

[Reef Wizard]

Bumping and following

 

[BeanAnimal]

I can't see where it is coming from, but if your are talking about the stringy thing waving in the current... that would be a vermetid snail's mucus net.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

That's a Benthic Ctenophore - a benthic comb jelly. You can see the tentilla (the mini tentacles shooting off the main one) that are a good giveaway; the tentacles will lead back to a little blobbish shaped pressed flat on the surface.

It's generally recommended to get rid of them:

Generally speaking, you'll want to remove benthic ctenophores to be safe (my understanding is that some are harmless pod-eaters, but others can eat small fish).

 

[BeanAnimal]

That's a Benthic Ctenophore - a benthic comb jelly. You can see the tentilla (the mini tentacles shooting off the main one) that are a good giveaway; the tentacles will lead back to a little blobbish shaped pressed flat on the surface.

It's generally recommended to get rid of them:

Your eyes are better than mine... good ID.

 

[nessyyy]

That's a Benthic Ctenophore - a benthic comb jelly. You can see the tentilla (the mini tentacles shooting off the main one) that are a good giveaway; the tentacles will lead back to a little blobbish shaped pressed flat on the surface.

It's generally recommended to get rid of them:

Oh wow, thank you so much! Managed to yank it out quickly and it just looked like a piece of mucus between my forceps lol. Hopefully that was it! I wonder where it came from.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Oh wow, thank you so much! Managed to yank it out quickly and it just looked like a piece of mucus between my forceps lol. Hopefully that was it! I wonder where it came from.

Pile of mucus is a pretty good description for their actual bodies.