Hitchhiker ID - Possible Polychaete

retiredsailor · Apr 20, 2015

I've been watching this thing for a few weeks. Until today I only ever saw 2 'thread' like things. Today I was finally able to see where they were coming from. Whatever it is has formed 2 very small and thin tubes that appear to be made from a single layer of sand particles. The first attached photo shows the 'threads' and the space they are coming from. The second is the interior of the space lit up with a flashlight by my daughter. The tubes are visible on each side. On the left it starts a quarter of the way up and extends upwards almost halfway before veering off to the top left corner. On the right the tube is distinguished by an orange piece of debris, with some dark shapes below that visible in the tube.

I searched around and the closest I found was a polychaete worm, but I'm not confident enough in my ID. Unfortunately my photography skills are worse than a 2 year olds ability to draw portraits. Hopefully though, my pics and description will suffice.

As allows, thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.

Ian

P.s. Obviously the photo order is backwards. Please excuse me. The day has been bad enough and I'm giving up for now.

Tahoe61 · Apr 20, 2015

Yeah Polychaete, not sure which one or ones.

LionfishLair.com - Hitchhiker Guide to your Aquarium

retiredsailor · Apr 20, 2015

I was trying to find that site! Thank you very much. Of course I feel a bit silly now due to the numbers of Polychaete species. But I feel confident that it is a Chaetoplerid. Unfortunately I am learning the hard way of the necessity of coral dips. Aside from this hitchhiker, I noticed an asterina star earlier today, a possible (hopefully) sponge, tons of spirorbis, something that leaves a lot of mucoussy threads and a whole lot, maybe half a but-ton of little moving white dots. Fortunately, though, nothing bad, just unsightly. Oh, well. I'm still learning.