ID is this a flat worm?

[elsherst]

This worm has been stuck between a rock and my sand for about 8 months. My wife and I were moving everything around when I had seen it again (still having no idea that it was a worm or that it was even alive) the rock was put where it was on top this time. Later that night I saw it slowly moving around. I think it's a flatworm that has a bunch of briselly hairs that all point toward the middle of the worm on top. The lighter brown are those hard brissel type hairs, and the worm is about 2" long.

 

[mbbuna]

[welcome]

looks like a chiton to me, there harmless

 

[elsherst]

Are there any chiton without shell's? This one seems all soft and squishy on top, no overlaping plates on it. But from the pic's I've seen of them it looks very similar to me, just without the shell.

 

[LeslieH]

Many species cover the shells with their mantles, the external fleshy part of the body.

 

[elsherst]

So does this also look like a chiton to you to LeslieH?
What do they eat? if I want to keep it alive and it is harmless like mbbuna said do I need to feed it anything, or does it scavenge like snails and hermit crabs?
And thank you both for replying. I was thinking at first that it was a flat worm of some kind.

 

[LeslieH]

Yup, chiton. 99% of them are micro grazers. The jaws are a series of plates that make up a rasp-like structure which they use to scrape algae, diatoms, bacteria, etc. off rocks & other surfaces. The only bad things I've heard about them is that they can eat corallines that people want to keep and they may scar acrylic. Never having kept any in a tank I really don't know.

 

[elsherst]

Thank you for posting.
The more I've looked into it, the more I agree, it looks more like a chiton than a flatworm. Comes out at night, stays on one rock so far just grazing around the top of it.