Mysterious Appearance

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by jonjonwells, Jul 5, 2011.

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  1. jonjonwells

    jonjonwells Great Blue Whale

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    I have an urchin that has appeared out of nowhere. It is about an inch in diameter. For reference, the frag in front is an inch and a half in height. I have not added a piece of rock in 18 months. I have two urchins in the tank, but one is a longspine, the other I pictured (bad pic). It looks to be the same species, or close to it.

    My question is where could this guy have come from?

    I know nothing about the reproduction of urchins, but I am assuming that they did not cross breed.

    Could he have been hiding for this long and not grown.
     

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    jonjonwells, Jul 5, 2011
    jonjonwells, Jul 5, 2011
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  2. Blue Falcon

    Blue Falcon Fire Goby

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    wow that's crazy he just appeared from nowhere. He must have been hiding in the rock all this time. haha

    I too know nothing about urchin reproduction but I would not think they would cross breed between species.
     
    Blue Falcon, Jul 5, 2011
    Blue Falcon, Jul 5, 2011
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  3. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

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    Seano Hermano, Jul 5, 2011
    Seano Hermano, Jul 5, 2011
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  4. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

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    Seano Hermano, Jul 5, 2011
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  5. jonjonwells

    jonjonwells Great Blue Whale

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    I was under the impression that most of the rock boring ones had thicker spines..... like I said, I don't know much.
     
    jonjonwells, Jul 5, 2011
    jonjonwells, Jul 5, 2011
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  6. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

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    I believe what you are thinking of is this?

    pencil urchin - Google Search
     
    Seano Hermano, Jul 5, 2011
    Seano Hermano, Jul 5, 2011
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  7. Mr. Bill

    Mr. Bill Native Floridian

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    Mr. Bill, Jul 5, 2011
    Mr. Bill, Jul 5, 2011
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  8. jonjonwells

    jonjonwells Great Blue Whale

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    That is along the lines of my thinking of them. Still does not explain where this little booger came from though.


    EDIT: Completely skipped Mr. Bill's post. Possible that a larval form or egg carried over on a frag. I try to dip all my frags, but it is a possibility.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2011
    jonjonwells, Jul 5, 2011
    jonjonwells, Jul 5, 2011
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  9. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

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    Look at Mr. Bill's post. That explains where it came from. :)
     
    Seano Hermano, Jul 5, 2011
    Seano Hermano, Jul 5, 2011
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  10. Gresham

    Gresham Great Blue Whale

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    highly unlikely. Probably not in egg form or planktonic form. Both are pretty sensitive and need proper algae to graze on. I suspect it was out of the larval phase and simply hiding in rock. Some rock borrowing urchins can grow pretty darn slow.

    I've seen them as small as an 1/4" come in on both corals and rock.
     
    Gresham, Jul 5, 2011
    Gresham, Jul 5, 2011
    #10