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Odd Critter Gallery

Orange Linkia Sea Star - Linkia sp.
Corkscrew Long Tentacle Anemone - Macrodactyla doreensis
Green Bubbletip Anemone - Entacmaea quadricolor
Orange Center Zoanthids
Red Leg Hermit Crab
Blue Tuxedo Sea Urchin - Mespilia globulis
Trochus Snail Spawn

Mushroom Attack. Picture taken April 1999
Sony Mavica FD91 digital camera, no flash

Directly in the center of the image, upside down is a small mushroom anemone that been caught by this SPS coral. I call these little mushrooms "free-radicals". These little babies let go of the rock they started on (over crowding most likely) and free float around the tank looking for a better spot.

The nature for mushrooms to roam around the tank is what makes them dangerous in SPS tanks and mushrooms tend to kill everything they come in contact with.


Mushroom Attack
Picture taken September 2002, Nikon Coolpix 950 Digital Camera, no flash

Here you can see the same red mushrooms have established themselves within the branches of the green Montipora digitata. These mushrooms can not be removed without snapping all the branches and destroying the colony -- or you can leave them which will kill the branches and destroy the colony. This is a prime example of why you do not mix SPS and soft corals such as mushrooms.


Mushroom Attack
Picture taken September 2002, Nikon Coolpix 950 Digital Camera, no flash

This is a different colony of the green Montipora digitata but is having the same results with the mushrooms.