Terrifying Creature in Substrate

ag09g

New member
So I want to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures of the creature in question, if it makes you feel any better I fumbled around like a moron with my camera and flashlight tonight no less than four times in an attempt to capture the elusive beast. Naturally, I failed, but since every thread is better with pictures, Ill go ahead and add one showing how I found my canary blenny tonight. Dont worry, he just LOOKS like he died.

Anyway, on to my actual question, for the past several months I have noticed that all of the corals I place on the ground on one side of my tank will always end up tipped over/moved slightly. For a while i assumed it was my sea urchin as he does have a tendency to cause utter chaos wherever he goes, but occasionally I would actually see the substrate heaving beneath the corals in question, though never saw the beast that was causing the movement.

Then about a month ago while doing my nightly aquarium and flashlight shenanigans, I stumbled across a creature with glowing eyes that immediately sank into the sand when the light shined on it. In this brief encounter I could tell it appeared to be some kind of giant worm like creature.

So tonight I was checking up on the tank and noticed that the ground beneath my block of homemade food (sitting right next to one of the corals that is always tipped over) was heaving. I shined my little light and saw what looked to be the jaws of satan attempting to rip pieces of the food off. Cue frantic shuffle in the dark to locate my camera.

The beast had vanished when I finally returned with camera in hand. It didnt reappear for a while so I had my guard down when suddenly I saw a worm head with tentacles sticking out of the substrate.

From the slight bit of body I could see, it appears that the "worm" has a thick tannish/sandy colored body that is smooth with maybe 5 or 6 tentacles sticking out of the top.

Has anyone seen something like this before/have any inkling as to what it is?

Id like to know what ill be having nightmares about tonight.

Thanks!
 

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Eight years of reef keeping and I've never heard of (and obviously never seen) one of these. It does look scary and mean! I assume you could grab it with a pair of tongs and pull it out?


I have the opposite worm story. I have one of these in my QT now and have been able to keep it alive for 2 weeks since collecting it in the Florida Keys.



I know it as a spaghetti worm or a medusa worm. Mine has 6"-10" long tentacles that look like blue/green heavy mono-filament. It doesn't sting anything, it just collects bacteria or other extremely small bits of food on the tentacles and then pulls them into it's mouth. They can bury themselves in the sand or make a 'parchment' tube and attach under a rock. My long term plan is to try a place it in my 70g anemone tank.
 
According to wikipedia the bobbit worm Eunice aphroditois can get to be almost 10ft maximum in the wild! That is no longer a worm, it's a serpent. I wouldn't go after a 10ft worm in my tank with anything less than a 9mm.

The article linked about the kraken worm Oenone fulgida is far less intimidating, and appears to be far more common.

I'd be a lot more worried about the former than the latter. But you should try to remove it either way. It would probably be a great sump worm.
 
@ron reefman
How about ill catch my bobbitt worm and well trade with each other, you're in Florida too ;)
Haha no really, nice worm though! I've got a couple in my tank too, they're cool little guys!

@all

So what should be my battle plan? I'd really rather not have a 10ft carnivorous worm in my tank. But I have no idea where to start to remove it...
 
Sure does look like the worm in the first video; of course I have no experience with that type of worm to say for sure, but they sure look close.
 
Oh man you have to get it out of your tank and be careful. By the look of the head it is probably over 3 feet long already.
 
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