Worm-Like Centipede Thing

[Lockhartia]

He wouldn't stay out long enough to get any pics, but I saw this crazy worm thing in my tank last night. I've had all the same live rock for years, so he must be harmless, but I'd just never seen him before!

I'm not sure of it's total length, but I saw about two inches of him and it looked like there was plenty more! It was a reddish-brown with white stripes and smooth, not fuzzy like a bristle or fire worm. The head piece had several antennea on it, maybe four or five? And like a centipede, there seemed to be "legs" down the side of its body. Any clue what this critter might be? It didn't move like a typical worm, and looked more bug-like than worm. It wasn't a slow mover and could rotate in very precise ways.

Thanks for any guesses!

 

[jasonm311]

Well don't know what it is but here is a site you can search and see if you see something like it.

http://species-identification.org/index.php?groep=Worms&selectie=18&hoofdgroepen_pad=,1,18

 

[AJSTITAN14]

5 Antennae = Eunicid

The legs down the sides are called parapodia and in Eunicids they are usually noticeable without any bristles.
They are noctournal and very sensitive to light and movement. We watch ours with a red LED.

Ours is benign as well, he does not eat anything we care about. Mostly he pokes his head out and swallows sand to digest the bacteria etc... that live in the sand. Once in a while he manages to get a piece of Mysis.

 

[Lockhartia]

Now that I'm reading all this terrifying internet horror about them, I'm wondering if I should get him out lol. Then again I've had all the fish in that tank for years, and I'm assuming the worm as well, as I haven't added any new live rock since I set it up probably 5 years ago. If he hasn't eaten my little trimma gobies in the last two years....

Plus I just xferred everything into that tank and got it perfect, I don't want to rip it apart! Maybe if I keep him well fed on mysis he won't get other ideas!

 

[rusty-spoons]

Iwould take it or them out as soon as you can. I had oned destroy a 150+ head blasto colony. Not wort the risk I.M.O.

 

[AJSTITAN14]

He's harmless. Most of them are.

 

[mscarpena]

Iwould take it or them out as soon as you can. I had oned destroy a 150+ head blasto colony. Not wort the risk I.M.O.

I agree. I have one that eats zoo's that I am trying to remove now.

 

[LeslieH]

If it is an eunicid - which I suspect it is - the only way to predict what it eats is by watching it. There are several hundred species with eating modes that range from predatory to herbivores. Just because an eunicid in one tank eats blastos doesn't mean that another one in a different tank will too, even if they have the color pattern. Lots of eunicid species have the same color patterns. Since Lockhartia's worm hasn't harmed anything valuable in 5 years I'd say it was one of the safe ones.