stinging coral-not(?) fire coral

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storrsms

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Mar 31, 2003
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hi- the other night when I was retrieving a veggie clip, my arm brushed against something that I thought was a sponge attached to some L/R, and it felt like a sweatbee sting-like someone put a just extinguished match on my forearm. this organism(s) is/are antique white in color,is shaped kind of like a small set of testicles, about the size of an Atomic Fireball, and looks like a pincushin with hundreds of glass-clear 'stingers' (nematocysts?) that are about 1/4-1/2 " long. I had thought this was a sponge, as it resembled the sponges that come on L/R, ball sponge-type shape, and I (obviously) didn't look real close at it until it 'bit' me.--any ideas what this may be?--I'm going to try and borrow a camera to get a picture,as this will make the guessing game easier to 'play'.


LOL- keep doin what your doin!

Mark
 

Boogiechillin

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Oct 26, 2000
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Working on the assumption that it's a sponge, a couple possibilities -
1) If you whacked your arm against it with some force, you may have just stuck yourself with some of its spicules, the calcareous or siliceous structural elements that keep a sponge from collapsing on itself. These can be fairly sharp and vary in size between sponge species.
2) Some species of sponges *do* sting. Odds are unlikely that you would wind up with one, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.
 

mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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As BC said, in addition to fireworms and fire corals, there are fire fire sponges . They are not uncommon in the Caribbean, but your description sounds different. More like a glass sponge. The spicule theory sounds good to me.
 

kreblak

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Mar 13, 2003
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Sounds like a sponge, but I have never seen one shaped "like a small set of testicals." You did make me laugh out loud, though. I think Mogurnda and BC are on the right track. Corals look pretty distinctive.
 

Corax

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Nov 14, 2001
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You description may have been humorous, but it was also very accurate of something I've got growing in my tank. I've looked on a lot of critter ID pages but never found it. If you find any pics with an id, please post them.. (btw folks, he isn't exagerating, it DOES look like testicles.)
 
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