Help - Does anyone know what this is?

[Tristan Green]

Hi,

Can anyone give me an ID for this thing?

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f158/tag2000/worm.jpg

I think it may be a worm cast, but I haven't been able to track it down in any of my books or limited internet search for marine worms. To my mind it looks a bit like the cast from an acorn worm but in a different form.

It's quite delicate and crumbles into sand between your fingers but there seems to be a membrane holding it together in this pretty swirl arrangement.

Cheers,
Tristan

[Ben Panter]

Could it be nudibranch eggs? They certainly look like that...

[Tristan Green]

Possibly, but I don't think so. These things are always found on the sand lying unattached and I thought that nudibranchs laid their eggs on the reef and glue them on in a spot with good currents so they get well oxygenated.

Anyone else got any idea?

Cheers,
Tristan

[Carol]

Where found and a hand in the photo, for scale,would have been helpful.
Carol

[Iain Topliss]

Looks like nudibranch eggs to me as well. Could have come adrift from somewhere else - or maybe the nudi just couldn't be bothered to stick 'em in the appropriate spot. God knows, we all feel like that sometimes :-)

[Tristan Green]

Where found and a hand in the photo, for scale,would have been helpful.
Carol
Ha ha - and I thought that this was one of my better photos where my thumb isn't in front of the lens :rolleyes:

It's about 8cm across and 3-4 cm high. It's on a sandy bottom with some small bits of coral rubble. Found in SE Asia where I've seen it on a few different places. This photo was taken in Malapascua, Philippines.

Cheers,
Tristan

[johnabbott]

I have seen quite a few in the Red Sea. I don’t think they are nudibranch eggs for a couple of reasons. Nudibranch eggs have no sand in the construction but the coils in the photo are predominately sand. Nudibranch eggs are laid in an open spiral but the ‘unknown’ spiral is quite closed, preventing easy dispersal of any fry.

The spiral in the photo is quite springy. It reminds me of coils of wood shavings. I don’t know what produces them. I favour the idea that they are produced by a gastropod, maybe as part of a feeding process or the foot of a snail as it ploughs a furrow.

Cheers. John

[Tristan Green]

Hi,

Okay - I know that I posted this a while ago - but I still haven't managed to track down what this thing is.

I saw another one last Sunday diving here in Hong Kong and it has prompted me to ask again: Does anyone know what makes these things?

As noted in the earlier posts it has been observed that it is found lying loose on the surface of the sand. The coil is quite resilient - i.e. it holds its shape and springs back to the coil shape unless it is crushed. It comprises fine sand grains that appear to be held together by a thin clear membrane.

I have seen these things all over South East Asia, but in my experience they are not very common - I may see one on say every 10 or 20 dives at any one location.

I'm fairly certain that it is not nudibranch eggs and it seems to me that it is most likely the waste product of a sand eating organism - hence all the sand in it!

Does anyone know of a marine biologist who might be able to help me?

Cheers,
Tristan

[SteveCT]

Hi,

Can anyone give me an ID for this thing?

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f158/tag2000/worm.jpg

I think it may be a worm cast, but I haven't been able to track it down in any of my books or limited internet search for marine worms. To my mind it looks a bit like the cast from an acorn worm but in a different form.

It's quite delicate and crumbles into sand between your fingers but there seems to be a membrane holding it together in this pretty swirl arrangement.

Cheers,
TristanPasta?

Steve

[Christopher Bullion]

Hi,

Okay - I know that I posted this a while ago - but I still haven't managed to track down what this thing is.

I saw another one last Sunday diving here in Hong Kong and it has prompted me to ask again: Does anyone know what makes these things?

As noted in the earlier posts it has been observed that it is found lying loose on the surface of the sand. The coil is quite resilient - i.e. it holds its shape and springs back to the coil shape unless it is crushed. It comprises fine sand grains that appear to be held together by a thin clear membrane.

I have seen these things all over South East Asia, but in my experience they are not very common - I may see one on say every 10 or 20 dives at any one location.

I'm fairly certain that it is not nudibranch eggs and it seems to me that it is most likely the waste product of a sand eating organism - hence all the sand in it!

Does anyone know of a marine biologist who might be able to help me?

Cheers,
Tristan
Hi Tristan,
I know a Marine Biology Group at Protsmouth Uni, UK. With your permission, I can forward your comments and Question to them and see what they come up with?

Chris

[IainC]

Just back from 2 weeks in the philippines.
I saw one too, in amongst the coral rubble on Monad Shoal.
Best any of the dive guides and their massive array of marine life books could come up with was 'probably some sort of worm cast'

Iain.

[rubyru]

I know this one. According to our local diving book it is mollusc spawn, although it does not say what type of mollusc. I see them in the sand in the channel outside our centre.
To narrow it down the molluscs I have spotted there include...
conus pulcher (conch),
charonia vareigata (atlantic tritons trumpet),
luria lurida (china shell),
haliotis canariensis (abalone).

Other candidates could be....
mitra cornicula
tonna galea
cymatium parthenopem
thais haemastoma

...but the book all says they are on rocky bottoms or deeper than 10 metres, our channel is max 6 metres, sandy bottom

It is not phalium granulatum, as the book shows this one with its spawn and it does not match.

If it is a nudibranch then it is not hypselodoris picta - the blue and yellow stripped ones, cos my book shows a picture of their spawn which is bright yellow. These are the only nudibranch I have seen near our channel, which doesn't mean there aren't any others, just that I have not seen them.

Hope this helps, if you google the likely suspects you might find a definitive answer.

[rubyru]

Hi,

Can anyone give me an ID for this thing?

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f158/tag2000/worm.jpg

I think it may be a worm cast, but I haven't been able to track it down in any of my books or limited internet search for marine worms. To my mind it looks a bit like the cast from an acorn worm but in a different form.

It's quite delicate and crumbles into sand between your fingers but there seems to be a membrane holding it together in this pretty swirl arrangement.

Cheers,
Tristan

It is the spawn of the naticidae, common name moon snails. No I had not heard of them either, the spawn is often called a sand collar.

[Tristan Green]

Moon snail - that must be it, thanks.

Found a picture of one here:

http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/largfoto/s421dx.htm

Cheers,
Tristan

[RST]

Best guess is that it is an egg mass from a big naticid gastropod.

[Morris]

Here in Florida it looks to me like a moon shell collar. It is exuded by the snail when it lays its eggs. It is a little more complex than the ones I have seen on the beach here, though...

[Christopher Bullion]

Hiya,
I showed your picture to the Marine Biology Group at the Institute of Oceanography, in Southampton. They're sure that this is a very elaborate nudibranch or snail egg cast. They're lookng through their records to see if they've seen it before.

As soon as I hear, I'll post the response.

Cheers for now,

Chris

[lilyp]

We saw them recently in the red sea and can't remember what the guy said they were but we have a marine biologist in our club so I will email the picture and hopefully come back to you.