Worm ID.....

i was given this link to id my worm. I'm pretty sure its on here.

LionfishLair.com - Library

 

Awesome! Thank you very much!

Just one more question. Will this be a species that grows to a size I should be concerned about, or is it at/near its maximum?

 

I did end up doing nearly the same thing about a month after I got the rock and noticed some big gorilla crabs; it scared me as the biggest were bigger than my clownfish. About 60 came off of the rock at that time. I didn't see another one for about 2 weeks - then I started seeing them pop up again at night.

 

I don't know how big it will get. I'm also guessing it's from Florida/Caribbean as a couple of UW photographers from the region have sent me photos of what appears to be the same thing. It didn't show up in any of my samples when I did field work in the Caribbean and that color pattern isn't mentioned in any of the scientific literature so I can't say what it is beyond genus.

If you decide to use the seltzer approach - which is very effective, by the way - & capture the worm I would dearly love to have it so I can identify it.

 

And if you decide to rehome him.... I have a tank waiting

 

So I found out today that this worm was very willing and very able to prey on my feather dusters. I had one sitting about 3 inches from this guy's hole. I moved the duster about 2 inches away after seeing it was missing some of its feathers (all were either damaged badly or cut down to stumps), and seeing a gorilla crab in the area. I figured I'd lure out the gorilla crab, forgetting that this worm is right near there too. Sure enough, this thing comes out of the cave a couple times sweeping around, and pulls the duster and tube towards its hole.

 

Was it actually feeding on the duster or just moving it? Eunicids are big landscapers. They camouflage the opening of their burrows or build extensions of them by moving rocks, sponges, tunicates, algae, etc., in front of the opening.

 

Like I said, the duster was missing most of its feathers, and the few that were left were damaged. Maybe the moving and systematic killing had two different causes, but when the duster ended up moved so the top opening was facing its hole, I don't see why it wouldn't be eating it.

It's not like the duster (soft tube, but I imagine this would apply to hard tubes as well) has any real defense against a eunicid that I can see. It may have been opportunistic rather than a really common food source for the eunicid, as it was pretty much the closest living thing to the eunicid's den.

I definitely do see the features of landscaping around the area, though. I have small pebbles scattered on the sand bed, the kind you would find in a cichlid tank, and they're concentrated around its hole.

Either way, I moved the duster to the other side of the tank to avoid any more incidents.

 

Some eunicids - even some big ones - are vegetarians & detritus feeders. The problem is that it's really hard to get good information on who eats what. I'm trying to build up a database of reports where reefers have a good photo of an identifiable species plus feeding observations. That's why I'm always asking if people have actually seen their worms eating a particular item. Since your animal has very distinct coloration I'm really interested in whatever you learn about it's feeding.