Leather Worm ID

[BoomerMn]

Well, LeslieH is a real marine worm expert, so lets wait and see what she has to say about my post I'm helping here out on another issue and just found out what she does.

[dobejazz]

Cool Thanks Leslie and Boomer! Is it safe to say that whatever the id is they appear to be harmless to the coral?

[LeslieH]

I certainly could be wrong but I think we'll have to agree to disagree about the animal in Kelly's picture. Of course we both could be wrong Animals other than polychaetes build tubes. We do agree about your image - it's a spionid.

Some chaetopterids get quite large. We have Chaetopterus specimens (only some of which make U-shaped tubes) in our collection which are 6 inches or more in length with tubes over a foot long. Not all of them live in soft sediments. I've often collected from coral reefs, rocks, algae, etc. Tubes of other types of chaetopterids like Spiochaetopterus, Phyllochaetopterus, and Mesochaetopterus reach over 10 feet in length. I've seen colonies of Phyllochaetopterus prolifica which were big enough to fill a couple of 5-gallon buckets. And some of us can really tell the difference between chaetopterids & spionids without a microscope.

Cheers, Leslie

Originally Posted by BoomerMn

No

They are not chaetopterids either. Although some get large, not these with this kind of tube. It is te '"U" tube type that get large, where the worm is in the buried in the sand.

You can not go by Kelly's image. That could be the head of a feather duster, that has lost the top sticking out or just part of the duster top. You also can not tell the difference really between a chaetopterid and a Spionid unless it is sittng in from of your face on a lab bench, under a scope. I think Leslie is looking at my pic and not the one at the top of this post. And my pic is a properly ID Spionid and not a Chaetopterid. However, chaetopterid tubes of this type, can get up to about two inches maybe and she is at three inches. Her pic is about a 3 " tube and to big in dia.


Finally, these worms grow in the sand and mud and hers is attached to a coral. They do not live that way. I should have said that right off. Got excited I guess

[LeslieH]

Originally Posted by dobejazz

Cool Thanks Leslie and Boomer! Is it safe to say that whatever the id is they appear to be harmless to the coral?

Assuming it's a polychaete it's in more danger from your coral than the coral is from it!

[BoomerMn]

Les

Thanks for the new info on chaetopterids, that is new to me. There is not much to find on them. Maybe some day there will be a good book on marine poly's

And some of us can really tell the difference between chaetopterids & spionids without a microscope

I LOVE that statemnt as Ron say's you can't, so you made my day I should go find that worm pic I need ID. I have it somewhere, it is long, size of a pencil and really blue but no head in the image. A firend of mine told what he though it was. He is also a marine worm expert, only polyclads and their systematics, Mike Noren. Your webpage worm is cool.

[BoomerMn]

Les, found the worm, sorry it is not blue but green. I think it is a phyllodocid polychaete.

[LeslieH]

Originally Posted by BoomerMn

Les
I LOVE that statemnt as Ron say's you can't, so you made my day I should go find that worm pic I need ID. I have it somewhere, it is long, size of a pencil and really blue but no head in the image. A firend of mine told what he though it was. He is also a marine worm expert, only polyclads and their systematics, Mike Noren. Your webpage worm is cool.

To me the difference is obvious. On the other hand, Ron can identify things from blurry photos that leave me scratching my head and saying . So different people, different levels of experience with different groups. I've never met Mike - he deals with flatties, I work on real worms

You're right your green worm is a phyllodocid. From Gulf or Caribbean rock? Then it's Eulalia myriacyclum. The extremely long body & the 5 stripes down the body are characteristic for the species. I just picked up a couple of them from Jamaica.

And thanks for the kind worms....er, I mean words!

[BoomerMn]

Haaaaaah, you are so much making my day. Mike said it is a phyllodocid, thrugh e-mail. I told Ronny what it was and he said you can not tell it is a phyllodocid, you need to see the head Whe I told him Mike Noren said what it was he said well maybe Mike is correct but you need to see the head

Ok, this is a worm from Marc's website. Ron said it is a chaetopterid. I'm not sure if it is or not but looks more Spionid to me .

[BoomerMn]

Ok, my last unkown worm and I'm clueless

[LeslieH]

You'd need to see the head if you had never seen one before. I've seen them many times. If Ron had he would probably have recognized it from your picture.

I can't do much with Marc's picture, sorry. I can tell the difference between the two types with a specimen or with a good picture. There's not enough detail here to know.

Your last one is really interesting. My first guess is a bead necklace someone dropped into your tank Second guess is a syllid polychaete. There are some coral commensals in this group which are very colorful. I would sure love to see one of these live.

[ChrisPrusha]

I am going with bead necklace!

[BoomerMn]

Thanks Les That was alive, in someones tank few years ago. It was sent to me for ID(pic). I just looked at Mikes' old e-mails and he said "not sure Boom maybe a syllid. But what ever it is it is cool worm" Mike sent it to Fredrik Pleijel but he never got back to me/us

[LeslieH]

Well Fred's a busy guy and syllids aren't exacty his thing. If you ever get another one - or any interesting worm for that matter, I'd be delighted to see it.