Eunice Worm - Terror in the Tank
30 May 2007One evening while sitting and staring at the tank, as I often do, I caught a glimpse of a worm that took a bite at a snail. Before I could really register what happened, it had darted back into its hole.
I have a red LED so I can see the tank at night without disturbing the fish. So I grabbed my camera and got comfortable to wait and see if it would return. It actually didn’t take long. I got the following pictures.
At first, I thought it was some sort of bristle worm. But after posting these pictures on a message board, someone suggested that it may be a Eunice worm. Eunice worms don’t have the distinctive bristles and are much more aggressive. That describes my worm MUCH better.
Unfortunately, this thing is injuring my snails which had been unwittingly crawling right over it’s cave. I found several snails laying on he bottom of the tank below the ledge in the rock where this thing lives. All snails except one seem to be ok. One snail did die and the other animals in the tank moved in for a feast.
I think this thing is quite cool and would hate to kill something so interesting. I may set up a separate tank for it and get it into solitary confinement.
on July 15th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
When will there be a new update???
on November 13th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Them sneaky worms.
on December 15th, 2007 at 12:09 am
hi there, These are also called “Bobbit Worms” they can get very larg. and be very agressive. if well fed they wont bother anything. BUT be Warned. I had one in my tank took me months to catch, Unfortunatly I ended up killing it in the process. Pitty as I used to love our games of hide and seek. very interesting to watch. Very strong, Very quick. The one in my Tank when we finaly got both halves out was just under 7ft. Amazing when you looked at where it lived. they break up rocks and glue them back to gether again to make a nest. I have heard of these upto 10ft pluss in a tank. but rare.I would never of beleved the size of ours if i hadnt got it out of the tank. just a note: a bristleworm trap is just a food cupboard to them. they put head in, take the food while rest of body is still wrapped up in its rock. to give an idea of their strength, they can move a 5kg peace of live rock. and they can break it up into very small bits. so watch your fingers. there are a lot of monsters in horror films based on these chapps.
If you want to catch it? you may need to find out which rock it lives in, and remove the whole rock to catch it.
Good luck.
on May 26th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I had a red bobbit worm that attacked my sleeping Blenny……….. it ripped his fin off……….. now my little Blenny is no more…………. we found the rock this evil predator was living in after quarrantining it in a specimint tank to make sure it was there ………….. the rock was destroyed. I couldn’t get a photo of the worm as it was always too quick at withdrawing, so being an artist I digitally painted what I saw……… AND in my internet artwork portfolio , I have put a warning about this evil predator. In the hope that other reef keepers will protect their fish from this pest.
Patty
http://www.artwanted.com/imageview.cfm?id=671613