Worm ID

[spline9]

Hitchhiker from a bit of LR I got from a friend.
Its flat.
Its flexible.
It moves fairly fast.

Aside from a name, can anybody provide details on it? I'll let the first poster name him for me.

 

[bertoni]

I'll name him "Trouble". This animal looks like a flatworm, and might be a predatory one. I'll look around and see if I can find more details.

 

[Amphiprion]

It is some sort of Platyhelminth--it may be a Polyclad as well, though I am not sure beyond that.

 

[bertoni]

I was worried about the polyclad part. I'll ask one of the Team RC members who's up on this animals.

 

[Amphiprion]

Good deal, because I am no flatworm expert by any means.

 

[spline9]

Man, I'm plagued by flatworms in the other tank. The red guys.
Thanks for lookin it up! I'm going on your lead to see if I can find anything, too.

 

[spline9]

Now, if they were predatory towards the red guys... That would be sweet.

I see that Trouble looks a lot like Polyclads (images.google.com) minus the coloration.

 

[bertoni]

No such luck... They would be more interested in snails, etc, I think.

 

[spline9]

Well thats no good. I tend to like the snails in my tank.

I will continue looking more later. I am summoned to a bar right now. Any more info would be excellent but for now, I think he will stay in a tupperware isolation chamber. Thanks again!

 

[Octoberfest]

I had a lot of empty snail shells turning up a while back, then a couple of my mollusks that were attached to my live rock ended up being nothing more than shells on the substrate. Well one night I foud one of these in my tank. It took me two weeks to get it but I finally got it out and guess what, no more snails dead.

 

[LeslieH]

That looks remarkably like Echinoplana celerrima (see http://www.nudibranch.com.au/pages/6370a.htm). I couldn't find any information on the diet of this particular species. Polyclads in general are predators who like meat. Recorded prey items for other polyclads include clams & snails, barnacles, tunicates, sponges, bryozoans, small crustaceans & worms. I didn't see any reports of feeding on corals but that could only mean this hasn't been seen yet rather than it doesn't happen at all.

 

[spline9]

Wow. Of all the images I've looked at, what you (LeslieH) posted is the only one that looks any bit close to what Trouble is.
And to my uneducated eye, its identical. Providing that its a carnivore of critters that I prefer not to be prey in my little biotope, I wont want him in my displays.
Would anybody be interested in this fine, fine specimen? LeslieH? I'm just outside of LA (93063).

Thanks for the help in the ID everybody!

 

[Octoberfest]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7319010#post7319010 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LeslieH
That looks remarkably like Echinoplana celerrima (see http://www.nudibranch.com.au/pages/6370a.htm). I couldn't find any information on the diet of this particular species. Polyclads in general are predators who like meat. Recorded prey items for other polyclads include clams & snails, barnacles, tunicates, sponges, bryozoans, small crustaceans & worms. I didn't see any reports of feeding on corals but that could only mean this hasn't been seen yet rather than it doesn't happen at all.

i'd say that is 100% what it is right there.

 

[LeslieH]

<a
Would anybody be interested in this fine, fine specimen? LeslieH? I'm just outside of LA (93063).
[/B]

Thanks for the offer but I don't keep a tank and the worms I actually work on are polychaetes!