The mother of all nudibranches????

[lcashman]

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g44/lcashman_2006/100_0429.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g44/lcashman_2006/100_0428.jpg

I had noticed some zoanthids and xenias shrinking being eaten. It looked like someone had taken a razor blade and run a path over the colony.
I found this in my tank early yesterday morning. I am calling it a nudibranch due to the structure around the business (eating) end of it.
Now for the help......I know the second picture is not the best, but I can take more picts if needed to help id this beast.
One other thing, in the first picture it looks like there are two......when it was being evicted from the tank I pinched it and it became two.

If you have any suggestion to what type of animal this, LMK.
Also, would be interested to see if I need to worry about any others in the tank......:(

Thanks,
Leland

[LeslieH]

It's a polychaete worm in the family Eunicidae. Aything long, skinny, and with repeated segmentation like that is a polychaete (= bristle worm). Many of them have anterior sensory & feeding appendages.

Most eunicids seem to ignore soft corals but apparently there are some species that will eat them. there's no way to know if it's a problem or not unless you see the worm actually chopping away at your zoanthids & xenias. Generally if you see one there's lots more although they may be different sizes.

[lcashman]

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't think it was a bristle worm because of the lack of spines/spikes along the body of the worm.
Another reason was the coloration of the worm. I've seen bristle worms colored pink/red/blue/purple, but not black.

Anyways, I'm going to keep it quarantined for now.

[LeslieH]

I think you're referring to what I call fireworms which have conspicuous tufts of bristles along the body. Other polychaetes also have bristles but they're not as obvious. A better character is the segmentation.

[Bebo77]

steve weast pulled an even bigger one from his tank

oregonreef.com

[mastou]

There have been some excellent articles i reefkeeping on these worms:

The Large Worm Turns… (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php)

and

Polychaete Annelid Identification, or “You Can Always Tell A Bristle Worm… (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/rs/index.php)

/Magnus

[lcashman]

Thanks for the reading.
I now know more about these creatures than I did.

[venwu225]

do you still have the animal? I would love you have it :D

[lcashman]

As a matter of fact, the worm is sitting in a tank all alone.
The end of the worm that was pinched died yesterday, but the business end is still kicking.
venwu225, if you are really interested in the worm LMK.
A small box fee and shipping and the worm would be in the mail to you.