Larval coral or anemone???

[PB_Smith]

I picked up a couple of frags today and when I got home I found this guy swimming around in the bag;

it is maybe a little more than an 1/8 of an inch across, maybe a 1/4 inch if tentacles are fully extended.
When it swims it undulates like a jellyfish and then when it finds a spot it glues itself down right away.
I have it in a small container in my fuge so it doesn't get lost or get loose in case it's a nasty.

it could be a coral larvae. The system the frag came from was very, very well established and alive.

or could it be some type of anemone, hopefully not aiptasia, but that is what it kinda looks like...
although I don't recall seeing any in the tanks at the store....hmmm
better double check those frags I got

 

[Sniperhank]

That looks to be exactly that, a 'free swimming' aiptasia.

 

[Toffee]

I say aiptasia

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[PB_Smith]

yeah, I tend to agree. It's gone.
got up this morning, looked in the little container it was in and the bugger was trying to escape!
Last night it was attached to bit of rock and seemed happy.
This morning it was trying to squeeze between the wad of filter floss I used as a plug and the side of the container, jerking away trying to escape it's prison and wreak havoc on my unwitting system.


I foiled it's nefarious little plot and it is no more.




still kinda cool watching the little demon seed......


so far the only other hitchhikers I've seen are a pair of almost microscopic feather dusters and possibly a few bits of sponge.

 

[mr_X]

There are free swimming anemones that never root themselves also.
Here's one I snapped in a refugium years ago-