id worm like please

[tramsden]

Recently my capnella has withdrawn its polyps on close examination I found this ? worm wrapped around one of the branches, its about 1.5 inches in length, I'm affraid I chopped it in 2 whilst removing it with forceps.. I have spotted what looks to be the same ?worm amongst a montipora I have, should I also remove this or is the ?worm safe..

Heres a picture of each half..

..Tony

[tramsden]

And the second photo..


Thanks for any help given

.. Tony

[tramsden]

And the second photo..


Thanks for any help given

.. Tony

[rshimek]

Hi Tony,

Sorry, but the powers that be have decreed, without forewarning us, that images now must be posted in the Gallery. Please post your images there and link to 'em, and I will be glad to try to identify them. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[tramsden]

Ron

thanks for your time. Heres the picture of the worm wrapped around my capnella, any ideas what it is





..Tony

[rshimek]

Hi Tony,

The image is of a fragment of a polychaete annelid (aka "bristleworm") possibly in the group called the Family Syllidae. These are generally predatory worms (eating small bugs or other worms). It would be harmless to your coral, but it may live inside it as a commensal.

[Skybase]

on this note, I'd seen my britleworms (I have probably hundreds of them in my tank) sticking out of the gravel, "spitting". It's like a dual-cannon of some white powdery seeming secretion? What is this, and why were they ejecting it last night? Seemed to be only the larger specimens, but I saw 3 of them do it in about 5 minutes.

[rshimek]

Hi,

Sounds like a spawning event. The white "powdery" secretion is eggs, more than likely. Another phrase for this would be "coral food."

[Skybase]

ahh. Hehe kewl kewl

I was wondering about that, but then in reading about the toxins in their bristles got to worrying. (since it was right after I'd fed the tank)

Just odd that it seems to dissolve throughout the water, but I guess if they're that small. . . It shoots out quite a ways really, straight up into the tank. But perhaps that's good then. .give other things something to eat.

[rshimek]

Hi,

They don't dissolve, they simply disperse. The males release sperm and the eggs get fertilized in the water and then develop there for several days, at least. If you back light your tank you can see these larvae as very tiny moving dots (any survivors, that is).

See here for some information and images about them.

[Skybase]

Wow, very kewl. Well, except that I already have hundreds if not Thousands of them in my tank. . .Hehe