Ohio Reef

Reef Discussion => Pests, Nudsiance Algae and Prevention => Topic started by: coral ranch on December 11, 2009, 21:02:15

Title: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: coral ranch on December 11, 2009, 21:02:15

This evening I found a black 2 feet long worm like creature in our race way. It is smooth and rubbery in appearance.It's head almost resembles that of a nudibranch. It is flat and flares out with a neon green pattern on it. I can not see any segments or bristles.I know it is about impossible to id without a picture so I will try to post one tomorrow.The closest thing I can say it resembles is a fresh water cecilian worm.

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: Reefinmike on December 11, 2009, 21:29:50

its not one of these http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/worm/polychaeta/giant.htm (http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/worm/polychaeta/giant.htm) is it?

sometimes reef tanks scare me, you have it setup for years, then out of nowhere, monsters of the deep come out. Before i even knew i had bristle worms, I saw a giant one that was 7" long. Now i embrace the bristle worms, I dont have to worry about overfeeding, and I always feed a little bit extra because it is fun to see 50+ bristle worms and 30 blue legs make the race to the sandbed of my nano.

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: coral ranch on December 11, 2009, 21:41:36

It's body is smooth and like an inner-tube.

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: Blown76mav on December 11, 2009, 21:50:52

When in doubt take it out.

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: rayviv on December 11, 2009, 22:00:36

Lets see it!!!! Where is the pic??

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: NEWMAN on December 11, 2009, 22:52:31

I'll take it for catfishing

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: bkvreef on December 12, 2009, 08:18:25

There was a worm that I think I remember someone posting a while back on reef central that they pulled out of their tank that was about 6 feet.
They had it laid out on the garage floor next to their car.

I also thought Melev had one a while back but I searched his sight and couldn't find anything.

Good luck.  Maybe you could chop it up and grill it in place of the tiger nassarius  ;)

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: Joel on December 12, 2009, 08:58:27

That sounds like a specie of Eunice worm. I had a pretty big one that I kept in my supmp for a couple years. It was black with tentacles on it's face / mouth area that were reddish / orange in color. It had a huge burrow that it made in the sand, it was pretty cool.

The only thing I know it was eating was calerpa, I would see it drag pieces back to it's hole. I had coral frags down there with it and didn't have them get eaten so I assumed it was not a coral eater.  It looked pretty scary though, so I wouldn't touch it :D

It disappeared one day, don't know if it died or if it went through a pump or what - neat but I wouldn't want it in my display tank. I have read stories where species of these are coral predictors.

Joel

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: coral ranch on December 13, 2009, 17:26:19

here are some pics
(https://ohioreef.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf103%2Fcoralranch%2Fworm063.jpg&hash=0118de9bc0cccedd5d2f9b9e39a3d1131f33530d)
(https://ohioreef.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf103%2Fcoralranch%2Fworm056-Copy.jpg&hash=17c31b7b51f22c3873aeaed3cacb7c51709b4506)
(https://ohioreef.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf103%2Fcoralranch%2Fworm062.jpg&hash=2355d42015f2f7bb11e32f5dc96b0c21b116d165)
(https://ohioreef.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf103%2Fcoralranch%2Fworm057-Copy.jpg&hash=0ba72d227ba977e9112561c6b801b3b6c634ab08)
(https://ohioreef.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf103%2Fcoralranch%2Fworm060-Copy.jpg&hash=65a08e71cf39530d29787915b005c0056f8bb043)

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: jeremyt on December 13, 2009, 17:36:41

no idea but  :o eeeeeewwwwww

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: Reefd Up on December 13, 2009, 19:10:16

Ah, it's a Nemertean...a ribbon worm.  :)

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ribnwrmidfaqs.htm (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ribnwrmidfaqs.htm)

It looks like a "Notospermus species though... widely distributed throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific" according to WWM.

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: coral ranch on December 13, 2009, 19:30:43

That is it. I looked up some info and it seems most prey on small inv. and scavange but this one looks large enough to at least take out turbos wich is what it was eating when I caught it. Not sure if he killed it or was scavaging it after it died.

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: Reefd Up on December 13, 2009, 19:31:46

He looks like a pretty fat guy...wouldn't surprise me if he had to kill a few snails to stay full.  That'd be awesome for a species-specific tank!

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: Wall_Tank on December 13, 2009, 19:49:45

Quote from: Reef'd Up on December 13, 2009, 19:31:46

He looks like a pretty fat guy...wouldn't surprise me if he had to kill a few snails to stay full.  That'd be awesome for a species-specific tank!

Wanna set that up in your bedroom?

Title: Re: 2 feet long worm?
Post by: HUNGER on December 13, 2009, 20:08:12

looks kinda cool tho