Royal Gramma with 'quills' around mouth

[Rybren]

As I was feeding my fish today, I noticed that my Royal Gramma's mouth was looking a little strange. On closer investigation, it looks like it had bitten into a porcupine and got a mouthful of quills. There appears to be one quill-like structure on one of the pectoral fins.

I did some net surfing, and came across one post that described a very similar situation. Unfortunately, there weren't any responses.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=645705

Any ideas as to what this might be? All of the other fish are fine.

 

[Flashy Fins]

Probably ate a bristle worm, or attempted to.

 

[Rybren]

I wondered if it was something like that, but I've never heard of a fish getting quills from a bristle worm. Anything is possible, I guess.

Thanks

 

[ca1ore]

Probably ate a bristle worm, or attempted to.

Yeah, that, or even just tried to share too cozy a hiding place with one.

 

[Rybren]

You guys just might be right. There are fewer quills on the fish today.