Neat little worm picture.

[mscarpena]

I still have not been able to 100% ID this guy, but here are some newer, better, and bigger pictures. You can see how this guy breeds by budding its babies off the back.
Leslie hope you get a kick out of these pics(and hope you have not seen this before)???

Dont pay attention to the pink playdoh my son tossed in there. He is something else for sure.

http://s588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/mscarpena/?action=view&current=DSC02081.jpg

http://s588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/mscarpena/?action=view&current=DSC02079.jpg

http://s588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/mscarpena/?action=view&current=DSC02078.jpg

http://s588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/mscarpena/?action=view&current=DSC02077.jpg

 

[LeslieH]

Those are really great shots for a ordinary camera, Mark. Turns out that's one of my favorite polychaetes. It is a syllid, subfamily Autolytinae, species Myrianida pachycera, and the one that helped spark my interest in invasive species. I have some close-up shots of the worm & the clones in this web article:
http://138.7.120.30/nwhicreefs/cruise/creaturefeature/worm-feature

Every time I've found it the worm was associated with yellow sponge so somewhere in your tank must be some encrusting yellow sponge. Might be under or in the crevices of a rock. I doubt very much that it's bothering your polyps. Where's your rock from?

 

[mscarpena]

My rock is from Fiji. I have only seen it on a set of polyps I purchased from a LFS recently. Over the last 3-4 moths. I do have quite a few sponges, but none that are yellow. I have a lot of yellow sponges in my 75 gallon, but none in the 60 gallon and this is where this critter is from. I do have some tanish slightly yellow sponges in there. Who knows. I have had this rock for about 5-6 years now and have never seen it before. I would guess that it is a recent pick up from a purchase that I made from buying corals. I had this rock in a 46 bow front for about 2 years then took that tank down and had it stored in my make up water tank for about 2 years. Almost a year ago I bought my 2 sons a 60 gallon cube and have seen 2 of them on the same set of polyps over this month. Glad to hear it is harmless to my corals. I will put it back because it really is beautiful. How large do they get?? Thanks for the help as always. I read another one of your post and you say they eat hydriods that is what it is feeding on in my tank. I have quite a few of them. Hopefully it will eat a bunch of them. They slightly irritate me, but cause no harm to any of my corals. Yeah finally a good and beautiful hitchhiker. Also my 2 hitchhiking pistol shrimp spawned last night. Things are looking up.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

What a BEAUTIFUL worm!
Would go great with my yellow sponges if there were someplace to get some.

 

[mscarpena]

I put him back in my tank. It was really beautiful. Only thing is they are small and just get lost in a tank.

 

[LeslieH]

That's as large as they get Mark. The chain of clones can get longer and I suppose the parent might as well but it will stay small enough that you need a good magnifying glass to see it clearly.

 

[the droob]

Thats the coolest worm ,nice hitchhiker pick up

 

[mscarpena]

Thats about what I thought since it was reproducing, but you never know. Leslie knows though if its about worms.

 

[LeslieH]

Awwww (blush)......