Cockroach looking thing growing from sand

[PurplePolyp]

I have this white and brown thing that started growing out of my sand bed last night right where my elegance coral had just passed on. It's got a heart shaped white fuzzy body, with a brown abdomen which is growing down into the sand and it has 2 little brown arms growing out of the side of the white. I attached the best photo I could get. Anyone know what it is?

 

[fort384]

Can't tell for sure from the photo. Is it mobile, or stationary?

 

[MacDracor]

That's a tricky one. To be honest, it almost looks like a hermit crab sans shell. Fort384 posed one of the most important questions. What does it do? Move? Wiggle? Sway? Just sit there?

 

[PurplePolyp]

It was a hermit crab. I don't know why he wasn't in a shell.

 

[Beengirl]

It was a hermit crab. I don't know why he wasn't in a shell.

Did he get back into a shell?

 

[MacDracor]

Very unusual for a hermit to spend any significant length of time outside a shell, unless it is sick.

 

[PurplePolyp]

Did he get back into a shell?

No. A snail got him.

 

[Beengirl]

No. A snail got him.

Oh. Darn. Sorry about your hermit. He must have been sick and/or dying for a snail to het him.

Just make sure you have some shells bigger than your hermits' current shells for them to move into when they molt so that it doesn't happen again.