Need ID help on this thing

beachmutts · 05-29-2003, 01:51 AM

I just noticed this thing tonight. This is the best picture I could get.

It is a semi-clear "tube" of some sort that extends out of it's host piece of LR and then attaches to the lower piece of LR. At this point I can see what looks like a mouth open up at the end (it sort of resembles a polyp or "flower"). It grabs a piece of debris off the LR and you can then see a ball travel back down the length of the tube to the rock where it originates from. The tube then retracts back into it's host rock.

I have a heck of a time trying to describe this stuff. I wish I could get a better picture but this is the best one I could get.

Any guesses as to what it is?

Jeremy1973 · 05-29-2003, 09:09 AM

Just looks like a tube worm to me. I see them occasinally, but the tube is covered in sand and such. Now, does the tube grab the food, or something in the tube? Just wanted to clarify.

beachmutts · 05-29-2003, 03:31 PM

The tube has a "mouth" of some sort that come out and grabs the food. The ball of food then travels down the tube (kind of like a snake eating a squirrel or something; you can see the buldge travel down the tube. I'll do some searching on tube worms and see what I find.

Jeremy1973 · 05-29-2003, 04:03 PM

I have similar ones in my sand bed. Esp. when they are near the glass, I get to watch the grains of sand move up this tube and out on to the mound it is building. I think it is the same thing. But someone who knows more will hopefully chime in.