Worm ID?!

[Jesterzwild]

Hello everyone... I was wondering if someone could help me ID a worm i have in my soon to be reef tank. In all honesty ive only seen its entire length once or twice, hes always in the rock partially but he is close to a foot long if not bigger.

He seems to play well with others as i have 2 peppermint shrimp, mushrooms, snails, and crabs and he will leave them all alone. He does however love brine shrimp and bloodworms.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/150092worm1.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/572/150092worm2.JPG

 

[Sk8r]

Can't make out the pix, but he's probably a bristleworm, a beneficial reef creature. His mouth is capable of eating only very soft things or decaying things. His bristles sting our hands quite painfully: if you ever meet him without gloves, hot water and vinegar is the remedy for your fingers.

 

[Jesterzwild]

Really? I didnt think bristle worms could get that big. He is seriously as thick as a nickel and a foot+ in length

 

[LeslieH]

Yes, that's an Eurythoe, one of the benign worms. They get larger but remain unaggressive towards live animals.

Sk8r & everyone else - I seem to have started a misconception. Amphinomid mouths lack jaws but they can eat more things than just very soft & decaying matter. In my earlier statements I was trying to point out that they don't bite chunks out of corals. They can however engulf relatively large objects (relative to their mouth size).

 

[GS-Rock]

can you post some more pics i am trying to get a good look at it, just for so i can get a good id of the worm

 

[Jesterzwild]

im at work right now so i will later on tonite after 9:30 est. ill be feeding them at the time so hopefully he will come out more and maybe model for a couple better pics!

 

[Jesterzwild]

so would i have to worry about zoos, shrooms and any hard corals that i plan on adding to my tank?

 

[venwu225]

no

 

[LeslieH]

Not if they're healthy If you see a big Eurythoe eating a zoa, shroom, or hard coral it will be because the coral is already sick, dying, or dead and the worm is eating the necrotic tissue. That's what scavengers do.