Disappearing protrusion

[dafishman]

Okay, so... one of my multies had a whitish protrusion from the vent area when I first turned my lights on this morning. "She" (I'm thinking a female because two of them appear to have paired off and "she" is the smaller of the two) was spending most of her time in one of the shells, and when she was out, shimmying and displaying in front of the male. (Otherwise, swimming normally)

The protrusion isn't stringy, fuzzy, or bloody.

And then, after a little while, it receded, now there's only just a slight bump around the vent area.

Thoughts?

 

[dafishman]

Oh, and on further inspection, when the 'male' draws close, the 'female' typically nips at him, but it's sort of a softer nudge, usually directed at the vent area.

To be honest, it looks kind of like pre-spawning behaviour, but I'm trying to figure out if this would cause the significant protrusion or not.

 

[SubRosa]

Keep your eye out for the babies.

 

[dafishman]

Yeah? She doesn't seem to be doing much in the way of defending the shell yet, I've seen and heard they're supposed to be rather vigorous in trying to keep anyone and anything (including hands, tools, etc) away. Just too early for that yet?