Worm ID

[bwest]

I have a number of these that I've seen in my tank. This is a picture of one crawling on the glass. Anyone know what they are? Thanks.

Edit: I also wanted to add that the one in the picture is no larger than an inch in length.

 

[LeslieH]

It's a dorvilleid polychaete. They tend to be micro-grazers that scrape food off hard surfaces and nothing to worry about.

 

[bwest]

Thanks for the information. Based off of that I looked it up and found that a eunicid worm looks very very similar. Are these two one in the same?

 

[LeslieH]

Dorvilleids and eunicids are all polychaetes and belong in the same group of families with jaws so they're more closely related to one another than to a group like the terebellids (spagetti worms), cirratulids (hair worms), or amphinomids (fire worms).

Here's the head of a dorvilleid that resembles yours:
http://www.nhm.org/guana/bvi-invt/bvi-surv/images/worm-05/h0996c.htm

And here's the head of a eunicid:
http://www.nhm.org/guana/bvi-invt/bvi-surv/images/worm-04/h0792a.htm

 

[bwest]

That certainly helps out a lot. Thanks Leslie!