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AuntKaren
10-09-2006, 09:07 PM
They look like earthworms but their top part was spinning like Linda Blair's in the exorcist and the body was dangling. They rose up and down in the tank. It was odd!

Anybody know what they might be?
AuntKaren
10-09-2006, 09:14 PM
OK let's see if you can actually see the pics!
AuntKaren
10-09-2006, 09:26 PM
Heavy sigh! One more time! :WHY:


it didn't work so..............


NEVERMIND!
PurpleAardvark
10-09-2006, 09:34 PM
CALL A PRIEST. LOL:p
AuntKaren
10-09-2006, 09:47 PM
LOL I sent BObby the picture and he's asking everyone on the internet about them! I call them "exorcist earthworms"

They look exactly like an earthworm but it's head spins!
graphixx
10-09-2006, 10:02 PM
Karen do a search on a Eunice worm or otherwise known as a Bobbit worm, they are pretty nasty wicked worms
PurpleAardvark
10-09-2006, 11:10 PM
Do the do this to you.
AuntKaren
10-10-2006, 08:32 PM
I mad the pic smaller maybe this will work??

anyway..... it's NOT the Eunice or Bobbit worm thank goodness! Ours are only about 2 1/2 inches long and look exactly like an earthworm with a broken neck.

Shall we try this again?? Here goes!
JustDavidP
10-11-2006, 07:41 AM
Most likely Phascolosoma arcuata (Common Peanut Worm). They look most like an earthworm. After lights out, and in the wild, during lowering (drawing) tides, they stick out their proboscis end and search for foodstuffs. Sometimes they do thrash around like you described. Most of the time they look like a finger, sticking out and moving around, bending at the top most part of the worm.

I'd also have thought Eunice worm, (and your additional input would help) but they tend to have what look like centipede legs and your picture, albeit blurry, seems to show a smoother appearance, lacking appendages.

D
AuntKaren
10-13-2006, 07:40 PM
David, they were completely out of the rocks....floating and spinning around in the water column. They could control their up and down movements but were at the mercy of the flow.
seahorsedreams
10-14-2006, 11:49 AM
Did they resemble bristle worms at all?..... any part of them? During repro BWs change into two parts..... well one part changes and the other stays the same. The atoke which is the front end (unchanged part) and the epitoke which is the back portion. Then when the time is right, the epitoke separates itself and swims to the water surface. Usually there is one that one worm participating much like you describe. They swim in a cork-screw type fashion. I have seen it several times.

I'm not sure if this is what you are seeing or not but I thought I would throw it out there.
AuntKaren
10-15-2006, 08:29 PM
I've never seen a bristleworm without bristles but I've only seen about 4 of them. If you go out in your back yard, dig in your flower garden and pull out a worm....THAT is exactly what my tank worms look like! They didn't have the "ribbing" rings but there are no bristles. Seahorsedreams you could be right about them separating but we watched them for about half hour and all they did was rise up and down the tank being carried sideways by current. We did go back to bed while they were still dancing around, though. I bet they are another type of worm but your explanation of what they were doing makes alot of sense. ::Shrugs::
seahorsedreams
10-16-2006, 11:11 AM
This is an enlarged version and not my picture. But the epitoke doesn't look bristley and is small so that you wouldn't notice all the spines. The top part separates from the bottom. The bottom goes "swimming" around.
mutts
10-16-2006, 11:59 PM
ewww thats kind of gross, got to love the things that show up in our tanks
AuntKaren
10-28-2006, 09:00 AM
Nope, Whisperer, that's not what my worms looked like they didn't even have the tiny bristles shown on the back half of your pic. I swear they looked like earthworms! I'm scouting the tank near full moon again to see if I can get a pic of them swimming or a better closeup of one out of the tank.

Boy this is frustrating! Think earthworm!! LOL
seahorsedreams
10-31-2006, 11:43 AM
I wonder if something like a peanut worm would reproduce the same way?
AuntKaren
11-02-2006, 04:16 PM
I'm taking the pathetic pic that I got to my LFS guy and asking him if he has any clue. My LFS guy, btw, is good friends with the guys who own Tampa Bay Saltwater they have known one another for years....I've learned to trust my LFS guy so I won't be embarrassed to post what he says. :-)
seahorsedreams
11-02-2006, 04:40 PM
Can't wait to hear what he thinks.