Eunice Worm ID

[SandieJ]

Can anybody help with this... please!

So I know this is some kind of Eunice Worm, his burrow entrance is right at the front of the tank, complete with trap door. His white band is clearly visible as is his unicorn horn and 5 tenticles. At the moment he is around 2mm in diameter, his lengh unknown as he never entirely leaves the burrow, we have seen around 4-5 inch of him exposed whilst he's searching around for food. Right now he seems non-agressive, he's very timid and very fast and appears to be scavaging rather than hunting.

The rock he's in is unfortunately a supporting rock and will be difficult to move. Were very new to the hobby, if anyone could give us possitive ID as to what type of Eunice this is, there are no side jaws present, so I'm hoping not Bobbit Worm! How big could this get? will it become aggressive towards our Crabs, Snails etc? and finally... how the heck to we catch it!? If he never fully leaves the burrow, how much of it do we really need to remove?

Many thanks!!

 

[LeslieH]

Yup, it's a species of Eunice. Which one, how big it will grow, if it will become aggressive & what it will eat can't be determined from a photo. I'd need to have the worm under a microscope to figure out what species it is. I can tell you that it's not a true bobbitt worm. Those don't live in the shallow depths where coral rock is collected for the aquarium trade.

The only way for you to know what it eats & how it gets along with the other critters in your tank is to watch it. Most of them don't get very large & are inoffensive scavengers or herbivores at their size. If you want to be proactive & get it out you'll need to bait it out. There are tons of posts here on RC on how people do that.