Mystery Worm ID

[Runner]

Anybody know what kind of worm this is? Found about 8 of them swimming around in my son's tank -- free swimming at all levels and somewhat fast and hard to catch with a net...

 

[Joeganja]

bristlemworm

 

[Joeganja]

if he has one he has more

 

[Runner]

So bristle worms swim around fast as fish?

 

[Joeganja]

Idk mine always In rocks

 

[brentsreef]

Ive never heard of a bristleworm swimming, they are usually in the rocks or on the sand

 

[brentsreef]

http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/hitchhiker.shtml

 

[Wiz]

Defanitly Not a bristle. No doubt

 

[Runner]

LionfishLair.com - Hitchhiker Guide to your Aquarium

Thanks! From this link it looks like a Dorvilleid Polychaete -- basically a eunicid. A link there says that Dorvilleid polychaetes are related to the big eunicid worms (which is what I thought of when I first saw them -- had a 28" long one in my tank a few years back). But they only have the four antennae -- not five. They also have jaws, but the text was inconclusive on whether they used them on livestock or just algae. Sigh. The ones we have are free-swimmers rather than crawlers. Reckon I will just keep my eye on them. Unlike the coral killer I once had in my tank, these guys supposedly stay small. Thanks again!

 

[CastAway]

I think that both bristle worms and eunicids in the juvenile stage can be free swimmers.