That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information
Patty here. So about once a week we get a shipment of bulk corals, anything from polyps and mushrooms to leathers and acros. Every once in a while we find something new that we don’t immediately recognize, and this week we got an interesting piece that is very unique and hasn’t been immediately recognizable as anything we’ve ever received. Though we have our suspicions, we haven’t positively identified it yet, nor found anything quite like it in images and sources to confirm its identity.700 gallon tank here at the store, if you’re interested in checking it out. 
Let us know what you think either here or on our Facebook page.
The specimen looks a lot like an extraterrestrial blob, showing an eerie blue iridescence. From varying angles it has varying appearance, like iridescent taffeta fabric. From above it shows blue, green and black, but the luster is less visible when you look at it from the side. It has dusky yellow or gold undertones especially around the edges. The surface is smooth and rubbery like wet rubber or tar that was melted and dropped into a pile. It has the consistency of rubber or cartilage, and though the shape and form of the piece isn’t all that appealing, the color is astounding. We haven’t found any openings or tentacles or polyps on the thing, but it is pretty neat. Any thoughts? It’s currently located inside our
Seriously, damn the bandwidth and give us a higher-rez picture to play with. My first guess is some kind of colonial tunicate (sea pork).
That is our guess, too. We consulted the pros at Wet Web Media, and Bob Fenner replied that he has seen it before in the South Pacific, also guessing that it is either a colonial ascidian/tunicate or an amorphous type of sponge. In any case it is too interesting and beautiful to give up, so it has found a home in our 700 display. High res images should be available soon. Thanks for checking it out, if you have any other in put please share!
My first thought was a sponge or Tunacate, would love to see if its a tunacate. OMG incredible if either. Are you fraging??
The piece found a home in one of our retail store displays, and we’ve seen one or 2 similar pieces come in since. never did get a definitive ID, and no it wasn’t fragged.