Id please?

[mano]

I found this worm on one of my seahorses this morning. It kind of looks like a caterpillar. I took this shot with my camera through the microscope so the quality isn't that great. You can see the micrometer in the shot as well I think so you can estimate the size of the worm.
The mouth is at the top of the shot. The dark area in the middle of the head was part of the animal.
Thanks for any help!

 

[LeslieH]

It's a polychaete but I'm not sure from the image whether it's an adult of one of the tiny forms like Ophryotrocha (no common name for it, sorry) or a juvenile of a bigger species like a bobbit. The dark area at the top are the jaws showing through the translucent body.

 

[mano]

Thanks Leslie! I was thinking it could be a polychaete. I wish I could have gotten a clearer picture to get a positive ID. Is it something I should worry about hurting my seahorses? I only found this one but I checked all of my seahorses and cleaned their tank just in case. They are in a bare bottom tank and are part of a breeding system just so you know. The female I found it on didn't seem bothered by it.

Thanks again!

 

[LeslieH]

Not to worry. these little guys will be grazing on the tiniest of tiny algae & detritus. They're not parasites or dangerous predators. If they are juvenile bobbits or onuphids (sorry, again no common name) odds are they'll be eaten by other organisms long before they could grow large enough to annoy your seahorses.

 

[mano]

Thanks for the good news again! It was an interesting thing to check out today under the scope and I was amazed at how quickly the little guy moved around.