So...Bristle Worms can swim?

[Alarmguy66]

I was doing some tank maintenance on my 20 the other day, mostly cleaning the caluerpa off of the rocks and such. After the water settled back down and the lights went out I saw the strangest thing.....bristle worms swimming in the current. Ok, maybe SWIMMING is a bit liberal, but they were definitly wriggling in the water column, mid tank level, and moving with a purpose. All of them were small, the lonest maybe 1.5" long. Never seen anything like it before. Must have been 20 of them.

Anybody else see this before?

 

[binaryterror]

Maybe they wern't bristle worms? I am pretty sure they can't swim...

 

[Sk8r]

Paddleworms?b

 

[Alarmguy66]

Well I was guessing bristleworms, because thats what they look like. Nothing saying they couldnt be something else. When they would land on rocks or the glass I could see the bristles on them. They crawl around the glass and in the rocks.

 

[650-IS350]

its probly this...

its probly this...

Check out this place and look for the picture of a " LANCLET "

http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/thepackage/organisms.html

I got a bunch of them in my tank.. they get eaten up by the curly cues, hitchhicker crabs... etc..

 

[Alarmguy66]

looks more like the UNKNOWN WORM to me

 

[Paintbug]

some bristleworms have a free swimming stage. at this point they are called Epitokes. some are baby worms, some are mature worms looking to spawn. i would bet thats what you saw.