Peanut Worm, but which?

mastou

New member
I discovered these worms in a rock in my aquarium (see picture) and have found out that they are called peanut worms.

111238Peanut_worm.jpg


I have been searching the web for additional information and have found out that these worms belong to the Sipunculidae family.
However, I don't know if it is possible to distinguish one species from another? Or what they should be called in Latin (just the family name?). So if anybody could help me with a more precise ID or tell me that it is not possible I would greatly appreciate it.
Regards Magnus




A couple of the links I found:

Peanut worms - encyclopedia
Peanut worms - Reefkeeping
 
I think it is genus Phascolosoma also though I don't think enough of the animal's anatomy is visible to get a specific ID. If you ever see one crawling on top of a rock at night, move it to a dish, let it relax and come out to feed, and get some pics with the extrovert everted.

Kevin
 
Thanks for the quick reply :)

Kevin> I have never seen them out on top of the rock, they always sit in exactly the same holes in the rock, and as soon as they sense a bit of light they withdraw very quickly. Further more the rock has now been overgrown by pumping xenia so I don't think it is possible to catch one. If I succeed I'll surely post a picture, meanwhile do you have any suggestions to where I can read a bit more about these guys?

Magnus
 
If you have access to a big library or a library that can do interlibrary loan, try to get Rupert, Fox, & Barnes Invertebrate Zoology or any of the books Dr. Ron sites in his article. There has been a lot of work done on this group to figure out where they fit into the tree of life and it seems they are most closely related to annelids and molluscs to a lesser extent.

The Tree of Life Web Project is always good for finding articles about a given taxon too: http://tolweb.org/Sipuncula/2487

Kevin
 
Ruppert, Barnes, Fox Invertebrate zoology could be a bit expensive if you're not into such things.

Mike "greenbean" has written a piece on peanut worms. You can read it here.
 
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