Purple Alien-like thing on my rock...

[kalooz]

I have a few of these on this one rock. I thought it to be a type of algae until one day it was wide open. I have discovered numerous patches of it all over this rock. Some are greenish, some are purple. The biggest is purple and has 2 openings (mouths). Inside the mouth, when it is open, I can see whitish ligature/musculature and what appears to be some sort cave like opening (throat-like). The little scaley things around the mouth move just the slightest bit and occasionally a bubble or two come out.

Is it algae, sponge, coral or alien?

Whatever it is, it's very pretty...

Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

My only guess would be some type of Tunicate or Sea Squirt.

 

[Anonymous]

Can you get pictures of the other ones? It looks like a bivalve to me.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree we need better pics but from what I can see and your descriptions I'd venture to guess this is a Colonial Tunicate probably of the genus Botrylloides.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

What about the area between the openings? Looks like a shell to me. Maybe I'm seeing it wrong.

 

[ricky1414]

Whatever it is, it is definately cool looking.

 

[Anonymous]

Could this be a type of Bryozoan?

 

[Anonymous]

Wow! I thought I could see the edge of a shell also. But I don't know much about them.

 

[Anonymous]

Could this be a type of Bryozoan?

Hmm, interesting idea. I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a bryozoan as a hitchhiker on tropical live rock, even though they are plentiful in the wild. I think most are branching or foliose types of shapes though.

Not to stray too far off topic but I wonder how well one would do in a tank. They have some incredible shapes/colors.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure, Matt. Just a shot in the dark. Whatever it is I think it looks very cool.

Couple more bryozoans - there are alot of them

(Disporella separata)

Kelp lace bryozoan

 

[Anonymous]

Check out this yellow boring sponge - wrong color but fairly close body - maybe

 

[Anonymous]

This is a Tunicate from my tank. I thought the lower portion of the animal had a resemblance so that was the basis of my guess. The two openings on the above part was why I threw in the Sea Squirt idea. It could be two different animals.

 

[Anonymous]

That's a wild looking tunicate. Very cool! Has it grown to that size or did it come in like that?

 

[Anonymous]

It started as a speck, grew to about 20 square inches, and then disappeared overnight.