Spaghetti worms!

[South City]

Not all of my hitchhikers are bad I guess! About 5 months ago I was getting ready to buy some spaghetti worms online when I noticed some in my tank that must have ridden in on my original 10 pound live rock purchase that I used to cycle the tank.

Today, for the first time, one was taking a spin across the front glass. Never saw them outside of the sand bed previously. I grabbed a few cell phone pics. The quality is sort of poor since the camera didn't want to focus on the worm.

I really think these guys are cool.

 

[makeshift101]

wow, i have a bunch in my tank, but never seen them that big

 

[South City]

It might look a bit bigger due to my having the camera right on top of him. I'd say he was somewhere around 2" long. I have a heavily stocked tank that is high in nutrients. I'm sure that doesn't hurt in helping to grow these guys bigger as well!

This is what I love about marine aquariums. Just the amazing diversity of life that seems to come about almost spontaneously and thrive in our tanks. I just sit and watch for hours.

I turned over a 5" rock the other day that has been laying on my sand bed for a few months and what I found underneath was amazing. There were mini serpent stars, micro brittle stars, copepods, amphipods, and what appeared to be an offspring of the rather large harlequin serpent star that I have in my tank. He had the same green/gray banding color as the larger one but was only about 2 inches across. I have no idea how they reproduce but apparently they don't need a partner!

wow, i have a bunch in my tank, but never seen them that big