Id Red Puffy Growth??

[damselindistress]

Have been watching this dark red, almost frilly growth sprout from one piece of my LR. It's actually very pretty, and shaped like pompons - about the size of a quarter now each piece. Seems to be made up of soft, irregular plates. I'm wondering if this is a type of algae as it does contain what appears to be air bubbles.

Does anyone have an idea what this could be? I don't have any slime algae on anything (I think) and coraline algae is dotting the tank now.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/74730redpuff.jpg

[damselindistress]

One other thing if it helps with Id:

Never closes up at night or "deflates", and no tank inhabitants pick at it either. It just happily keeps growing. :)

[ReefRian]

This info is from Reefs.org. This is what you have.

These are probably foraminiferans. These little creatures are basically shelled protozoans, one celled organisms (Subphylum: Sarcodina - the amoebas). They form shells primarily composed of calcareous material, with siliceous material from sponges, or other organic material. They are mostly sessile (non-moving), but can move with the use of temporary structure called a "pseudopodia". This little "arm" reaches out and pulls the rest of the critter along. In any event, they are harmless bacterial/detrital consumers. There are many different shell shapes and colors that these guys may have

[damselindistress]

Well thanks for the info ReefRian... certainly is an interesting concept. Will do a search on this and see what else I can dig up.