Random little worm(?) guy

Opabinia

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Hey all!
i found this tiny guy thats probably 7mm long give or take (accidentally caught him). Just wondered if anyone knew what this was as it’s kind of cute? I want to assume harmless creature 👌

20260923_13224 am_E2090AFE-4060-4579-A360-0EE31FCE3538.png


20260923_13225 am_CEDC012B-71E9-40ED-A738-E28C926B0AAC.png
 
"Bristle worm" is a very broad term. Polychaete is a whole taxonomic class of different organisms. Some are "good" some are "bad".

For example Dorvilleidae are mostly harmless while Eunicidae can cause quite some trouble. Both are related to each other and belong to the Eunicida order making the differentiation a bit difficult when you aren't very familiar with them. I could imagine this specimen belongs to one of those families, but I lack the experience to say whether it's a good or a bad guy.

My rather blind guess is Dorvilleidae, judging from size and antenna.
 
The white "collar" is worrying me. While it's not a perfect indicator, it's something to look out for as far as I learned. We really need someone that knows more about these guys.

ISpeakForTheSeas appears very busy at the moment, so maybe one of the #reefsquad people knows more
 
My first thought is dorvilleidae based on the size of the worm and the antennae. 7mm is fairly small so that's cool you caught it!
 
My first thought is dorvilleidae based on the size of the worm and the antennae. 7mm is fairly small so that's cool you caught it!
You probably right - I send the pictures to a specialist and the answer I got was jus a dorvilleidae

Sincerely Lasse
 

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