Baby bobbit ID

[Nick_Northern]

Hi all,

Earlier today I completely dissassembled my rockwork to remove a rock with a eunice worm I had been trying to catch for the last week, finally caught it by smashing the rock apart. After the serious reshuffle I found a couple of these guys in my filter sock, I am really hoping they are just bristleworms but those appendages on the head have me worried, I have a sinking feeling they are baby bobbits.

Can anyone help with an ID on these please, reaching my wits end with this hobby at the moment!

I am unsure how these things reproduce but if these are also eunice does that mean I am likely to have another larger one in the tank also in addition to the one I removed??

Photo's (hopefully) attached below, thanks in advance

Nick

 

[juniorrocketdad]

They don't really look like bobbit worms to me, they might be fire worms?

 

[pbauec]

There is a guy on ********* that is fairly knowledgeable on bobbits. His handle is Wiz. But if you don't want to keep those pretty monsters I would love to give them a good home. Will happily pay for shipping across the pond to the colony.

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

Those look more like Dorvillids than Eunice worms. They are far more common and harmless.

 

[eastlake]

I'm not betting the farm on this but I don't think those are eunicid worms. Without a closer look at the head it doesn't look like they have the characteristic 5 tentacles near the "mouth" or a band behind the head.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Those look more like Dorvillids than Eunice worms. They are far more common and harmless.

Agree, dorvilleids. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rs/index.htm

 

[Nick_Northern]

Well I had never heard of Dorvlleids but looking at the Reefkeeping link I am almost 100% certain you are correct. They look identical right down to the dark patch where the internal jaws can be seen.

The last month in this hobby has been a stress culminating in the discovery and removal of an actual eunice last week so my heart sank when I saw these little bobbit-alikes in the filter sock, i'm now a happy man!

Thanks very much your responses, doubt I would have found out about these otherwise

Nick