Non destructive read of socket

Is it possible to do a non-destructive read on a socket in Java? I
want the functionality similar to the C library recv() using the
MSG_PEEK flag.

More information:
I am implementing an API in Java which needs to send a "are you alive"
application message over a socket. In reply it will get a "I am
alive" message. However there may be another type of message already
waiting which the API must not read. The presence of any message will
be enough for the API call to succeed. The "I am alive" message can
just be discarded if it is read later.

I realize I could buffer the messages internally, but I would prefer
to avoid this if possible owning to the risk of losing a message if
the application is terminated.

.

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