Bill B Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 I realize there are lots of different critters in SW tanks but just being about 5 months into them I am fascinated by all the hitchhikers. Sorry this all happened so fast I didn't even get a vain attempt at a picture, but I thought perhaps it was something very common you could identify by description. This was actually hiding around my sea weed clip. At first glance it looked like a powdery white insect or spider. It had 2 or three sets of legs sticking out to the side, and a set of 'feelers' coming out from it's head area, all very thin. Looked like it could move relatively quickly although it didn't get much of a chance as my (newly identified) Spotted Cheek Tang saw me looking at it and made lunch out of it. I only got to look at it 10-15 seconds but as I recall the body was a little more elongated than the round shape of my spider suggestion. It was maybe 1/4", if that. It most struck me as looking like a little white bug. I'm betting there are no saltwater spider Sound like anything familiar, or even type of critter? Thanks Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 Sounds like a type of Pod. If you see one again see if it looks like a tiny shrimp with it's body being horizontal instead of vertical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 Sounds like your everyday copopod something like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 Andrews post was much more helpful than mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill B Posted October 2, 2008 Author Share Posted October 2, 2008 Sounds like your everyday copopodsomething like this? It's a darn good thing that I don't write for a living. This guy did not look at all like that. Perhaps if I quit talking about insects. If anything this looked much more like a crab than a shrimp. The legs were the dominate feature of the creature. It's body was proportionately much smaller than the legs. My mental picture is fading slightly but it seemed actually white and not primarily colorless. The 'feelers' I mentioned were not much longer if any than the legs. They were just obviously protruding from the head/front area and not the side. I don't know if this is a helpful addition but it was on the front glass and seemed to be walking effortless on the glass as opposed to clinging to it. I do think the body was a little longer than wide but only slightly, and this may be an incorrect memory as it was overall very small which means the body part was really small. This may be difficult to identify with a picture, must less without. Thanks Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 I still think it's some sort of copopod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill B Posted October 3, 2008 Author Share Posted October 3, 2008 I still think it's some sort of copopod. Thanks - From the generic descriiptions I have read of this family, it does sound like a good possibility - assuming there are not salt water spiders :) Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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