ugly wormy thing, what is it?

[David P]

I noticed it in my 60g fuge the other day and have no idea what it is. it looks like 1/2 bristle worm, 1/2 other worm. Bristles on aprox 1/3 of body and relatively flat on side of body with bristles. Cylindrical, segmented and smooth on rest of body. It was moving as if it was in pain so maybe it was a large bristle that was munched on or met the seio?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dubx/

 

[RobbyG]

Have you been shaving the bristles

It just looks like a Mutated version of a regular Bristle worm. Never seen one like that before.

 

[greenbean36191]

It looks like a tube worm that has bailed out of its home. I'm sure Leslie will be along shortly to give you a better ID though.

 

[LeslieH]

I think Mike's right - a featherduster that's crawled out of it's tube & is in very poor condition. Looks like a goner to me.

Sabellids & serpulids (the two polychaete families that are called feather dusters or fan worms) have 2 body regions each of which have two types of setae (bristles). The first type, long straight setae, stick out from the body wall in the anterior thoracic region but are much smaller & inconspicuous in the posterior abdomen. The second types are small hooks which are mostly embedded in the body wall & can't be seen without a magnifying lens.

 

[David P]

bingo, you've got it! I totally forgot I was given a small tube anemone and it wasn't looking good. I think my morish idol was picking at it so I moved it to the fuge. Thank you.