worm that swims?

[robs.mark]

I just saw an 8" worm swimming around my tank! It had heaps of legs kinda like a bristle worms only i couldnt see the bristles! It was light in color, thought the lights were out. It took a swim into my nano stream and came out worse for wear! any ideas?

 

[rott]

Could of been a bobbit worm. But hey mostly stay hidden if it is a bobbit they are some thing you want out of your tank

did it look some thing like this http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/bobbit-worm

 

[robs.mark]

you could be correct, do they swim though? at 1st i thought it was a ribbon eel..

 

[greenbean36191]

The reproductive forms of lots of polychaetes are modified to swim. Without a picture of the worm it's hard to say what group it belonged to. However, it's safe to say that the worm you saw was harmless since the reproductive forms are non-feeding and are basically just gamete-filled torpedos.

 

[rott]

some do swim to get one place to another but usally they have a tunel set up under your live rock. threw the gravel.

 

[Chiefsurfer]

I would have to say Eunicid worm. Almost all "bristle" worms can swim. I see it all the time(not in my tank). I live on a SW bay, and we have what's called sand-worms. Basically because they live in the sand. I am not sure what species exactly, but they do not have bristles per-se. They have fan-like objects that look a LOT like bristles, but I handle them as bait all the time and never get bristles. Some time around the first week in June, there is a MAJOR "worm-hatch" where I guess the babies reach full size. When they do this, there are MILLIONS of them ALL OVER. You can only imagine what the sea-gulls do with hundreds of gorgeous worms swimming at the surface. When I have seen them "swim" it's always at/near the top. They look like identical in movement to a water-snake when they swim.