Toughest ID guestion I've ever seen, Marriard et al !!

[onbelaydave]

I dug out this slide this morning. It wasn't all that great on the light table to go through my 1st (and 2nd) tier scans, but something caught my eye this morning and I ran it through. Here's the full frame scan (I know; it's a horrible "pancake shot"; that's why I've been skipping it)

But then I noticed something.What is this little critter behind the right-upper goby's tail ?

This is what caught my eye to begin with; the image is almost 3-D

 

[Dee]

I love those microscopic macros! I can't be sure on the ID but could it be an egg case of some sort. Or maybe a flatworm of some sort?

 

[archman]

Well it's NOT a chiton... there are only seven "plates" on the thing.

I'll also go with the flatworm theory, but as an invertebrate zoologist I'm obligated to throw out polychaete worm (one with flattened parapodia) and of course the standby everyone hates... detritus.

Don't feel so bad. I've had to I.D. far worse.

 

[friscuba]

Are you sure they aren't mouths? Brain corals have slit like mouths interspersed along the (for lack of a better word) valley portion of the polyps.

The top photo looks as though there is a mouth directly behind the neon goby. The closeup does make it look as though it might be something else. In the bottom photo I see what looks like 5 distinct mouths.

The mouth on thse corals can be in various state of openness, sometimes slit so tight they are hard to see, sometimes wide open like the mouth of a tridachna clam and sometimes fairly tight and somewhat prolapsed in appearance...I think that's what you got. Send the photo off to a marine biologist (I've found the guys at the Waikiki Aquarium to be helpful) for a definitive answer, mine is just a guess from several years of owning/selling minireefs a decade back.

later

Steve

 

[archman]

Send the photo off to a marine biologist

Steve

What am I, chopped spinach?! Oh, the humanity.