Need ID but I can't see much

blownki

New member
My friend and I were feeding my 75gal reef the other day. We noticed the wierdest thing reach out from a tiny hole in a rock. It seemed to be an arm that came out of the tiny hole in the rock. It was all white and very slender with a forked pincher type appendage on the end. It came out searched around by feel I assume, grabbed a piece of food and took it back into the hole. "***!" we exclaimed. I haven't seen it since that day, but I don't always stare into the tank when I feed. If I could get a picture for you guys I would. I will hold my camera at the ready when I feed to see if I can spot it again and hopefully get a pic. Any thoughts?
 
worm?

worm?

No, I don't think thats it. It is extremely slender like 1mm diameter thick about an inch of it came out of the hole. I would say the hole is between 2-3mm. Pure smooth white, no segments that we could see. Swear it looked like an arm, imagine breaking a window on a door and fishing around for the handle, thats what it did till it found the piece of food.
 
Perhaps it was a bonellid worm proboscis? Although I didn't think they were white. They live in holes in either live rock or in the substrate, and use a Y-shaped proboscis to find food.

There are also Terebelliadae worms, often called spaghetti worms; they have white feeding tentacles but they aren't branched. Cirratulid spp. are called hair worms, and they put out both gills and feeding tentacles, but aren't white and aren't branched.

Of course, micro/mini britle stars will often hide in live rock or in the substrate and feel around for food w/ a leg or two. But, again, these legs aren't segmented/branched.

Eunice spp. do have pinchers on its jaws, but you likely would have seen the head of the animal as well. They do live in holes, however.

You may want to check out those things. If you are looking for an inexpensive group of books to purchase that go over various animals, I can suggest two.

The first is Microcosm/TFH's (publisher) pocket expert series. There are two books, one for marine fish and one for marine invertebrates. Marine fish is by Scott Michael, who is very well known and well respected. This book is like a slimed down version of the 8 volume Reef Fish series that he is writing. Marine invertebrates is by Ronald Shimek, also well known and respected. I believe new editions of each have been released, and each costs about $20.00

The other series is from Barron's (publisher.) They don't always produce the best material for hobbyists, but they have two books out by Tristan Lougher called What... that are a big improvement on what you usually find from Barron. They aren't quite as scientific as Michael's and Shimek's books, but they are decent overviews. I have "What marine fish?" and "What invertebrates?" They are subtitled "a buyer's guide for marine aquariums." Each was approx. $15.00
 
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