mercedes Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 we are about 6 months in and thought we had encountered all the creepy crawlies hitchhiking on our live rock, but to our surprise this guy popped up and have had trouble identifying him. any ideas? is it bad? he didn't venture far from the crevice he came out of. your help is greatly appreciated. thanks in advance! it looks nothing like a bristleworm... Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Doesn't look like a eunicid to me. Not really sure what that is... Link to comment
revaltion131 Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 I thought eucinid at first, then a second look and spaghetti, but man, I have no idea. If it's harmless, it's awesome! Link to comment
mercedes Posted November 21, 2008 Author Share Posted November 21, 2008 got an id! it's a specialized xenia chomping syllid... more info can be found on our post on reef-frontiers for those of you who are interested: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showth...4971#post414971 Link to comment
dahliaheartsyou Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 got an id! it's a specialized xenia chomping syllid... more info can be found on our post on reef-frontiers for those of you who are interested: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showth...4971#post414971 you have to register to see it =[ Link to comment
revaltion131 Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 got an id! it's a specialized xenia chomping syllid... That is one awesome worm then! Link to comment
Lalani Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 ^^^^^ Quit doing that, D!!! Link to comment
dshnarw Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Quit doing that, D!!! QUIT BEING RIGHT ALL THE TIME LANI!!! Link to comment
mercedes Posted November 21, 2008 Author Share Posted November 21, 2008 here's the knitty gritty posted by brad: Did a little more reading on Syllids and came up with good and bad news. Good news Syllids reproduce sexually. Hopefully this is the only one we have in our little 15 gallon tank and won't soon be overrun with them like the common asexually reproducing polychaete bristleworms we have. Bad news Quoted from the article Mercedes linked "Similar species of Syllid worm exist with this basic body plan and are known to consume a variety of soft coral species." So it sounds possible that this worm is the thing that has been chomping on our soft corals for the past two months. here's a link to the article about the worms: http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1...O_-umfp9f4-OKVw Link to comment
hazmat Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Ewwww, worms creep me out! Link to comment
xbwolfx Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 ah. i didn't see all of those other "strands" hanging off it in the first pic. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 You stole my thunder! I have a benthic worm expert on my grad committee and there was a get together at her house tonight. I showed her your pic and she agreed that it was a syllid. You get a double positive ID by looking for a heavily muscular (usually looks white and is internal) pumping structure on the anterior end of it. Link to comment
hazmat Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 You stole my thunder! I have a benthic worm expert on my grad committee and there was a get together at her house tonight. I showed her your pic and she agreed that it was a syllid. You get a double positive ID by looking for a heavily muscular (usually looks white and is internal) pumping structure on the anterior end of it. Mr. Fosi...our resident expert!! So mercedes...what did you do with it? Or what are your plans for it? Link to comment
braddo Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Mercedes says she is afraid to stick her hand in the tank with that thing crawling around in there. It's up to me to find it and get it out of the tank before it destroys more of our corals. Our Xenia have been getting really beat up over the past week. Before that small blue zoo polys would occasionally disappear, a blue ric was slowly eaten and something munched on one of our acans. We were wondering who was chomping on all our corals. Previously we put the blame on a rogue xanthid crab we spotted but haven't been able to catch. Any tips on how to catch this worm? Bristle worm trap baited with xenia possibly? Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Well, the worm is a predator that eats by punching holes in the bodies of its prey and pumping out the prey's insides with that muscular feeding apparatus. You will probably be able to bait it with the corals it has been most interested in, but you may also try a bit of raw shrimp. Since it isn't a detriovore, it may not take the shrimp bait, but you can try it; it may save some of your xenia. Link to comment
hazmat Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Mercedes says she is afraid to stick her hand in the tank with that thing crawling around in there. It's up to me to find it and get it out of the tank before it destroys more of our corals. Our Xenia have been getting really beat up over the past week. Before that small blue zoo polys would occasionally disappear, a blue ric was slowly eaten and something munched on one of our acans. We were wondering who was chomping on all our corals. Previously we put the blame on a rogue xanthid crab we spotted but haven't been able to catch. Any tips on how to catch this worm? Bristle worm trap baited with xenia possibly? I wouldn't put my hand in there either!!! I am reading Fenners book on Invertebrates and he has a suggestion for catching bristleworms. Hmmm, strange he has explicit instructions on how to get rid of bristleworms..... Oh, back on subject...anyway, he said take a clear plastic tube about 1 inch in diameter and put a meaty item in the middle then stuff it with filter floss. The worm will hopefully crawl in to get to the food and get caught in the floss. Then, voila, you can take it out. Seems pretty easy so might be worth a try. Link to comment
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