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My Tank Thread
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2015
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- Location
- Carmel, Indiana
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So I just returned from Puerto Rico. Snorkeling the reef there I was showing a friend around and identifying the coral, inverts, and fish we saw as we went. He points to what looked (through my very foggy goggles at this point) to be a large sea cucumber.
It was actually a very large bristleworm. Now have handled the small ones in my tank (between a finger length or two fingers max) without noticing anything.
I grabbed it and let it crawl on my hand. I was gentle but it had a good amount of time on my hand before I discovered what it was. I felt like an idiot, my friend laughed at me, we had a good time. Well, fast-forward about 30 minutes my hand was on fire, and so was my lip. I had touched my lip when I unfogged my goggles afterward. I apparently did not have a healthy respect for the bristleworm stinging capabilities but I do now. It hurt pretty bad for several hours. By that night it was mostly better.
Moral of the story- don’t be an idiot!
Oh and a photo of the resort in Puerto Rico for good measure.
Absolutely beautiful. Highly recommend Condado Vanderbilt resort. I do NOT recommend handling a 10-12 inch bristleworm as big around as my thumb.
It was actually a very large bristleworm. Now have handled the small ones in my tank (between a finger length or two fingers max) without noticing anything.
I grabbed it and let it crawl on my hand. I was gentle but it had a good amount of time on my hand before I discovered what it was. I felt like an idiot, my friend laughed at me, we had a good time. Well, fast-forward about 30 minutes my hand was on fire, and so was my lip. I had touched my lip when I unfogged my goggles afterward. I apparently did not have a healthy respect for the bristleworm stinging capabilities but I do now. It hurt pretty bad for several hours. By that night it was mostly better.
Moral of the story- don’t be an idiot!

Oh and a photo of the resort in Puerto Rico for good measure.
Absolutely beautiful. Highly recommend Condado Vanderbilt resort. I do NOT recommend handling a 10-12 inch bristleworm as big around as my thumb.
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