Animal ID help

[Sloeber]

another common name is "fireworm" ... touch one and you'll know why ;-)

Technically speaking not all bristleworms are fireworms, but all fireworms are bristleworms.

Bristleworm is the common name referring to the class Polychaete. There are roughly 10,000 different species.

During my years of farming coral I had to remove these bristles from my hands on a weekly basis. Very few of them ever caused me any discomfort.

 

[Steelyeyes]

They're great if you like macro photography..

 

[deepsea21]

And wherever you see them they are NOT the corals' friend... They are generally feeding/eating on whatever you see them crawling on.

 

[Sloeber]

And wherever you see them they are NOT the corals' friend... They are generally feeding/eating on whatever you see them crawling on.

Not true. Bristleworms are classified as detrivores, meaning whatever they eat is already long dead. They do not eat coral.

 

[deepsea21]

Not true. Bristleworms are classified as detrivores, meaning whatever they eat is already long dead. They do not eat coral.

Really? That is news to me.

 

[Sloeber]

It is hard to make generalizations about any family that consists of a large number of species. With over 10,000 species, polychaete worms are definitely included. However, there are very, very few of them which are predatory. There are also a few known to be parasitic, some as filter feeders, some are pelagic. Consider members of his family can be found from arctic waters to deep hydrothermal vents. It is an exceptionally diverse family which is in need of reclassification, but the overwhelming majority of them consume detritus (decaying organic material).

However, none are corallivores. We don't need to worry about them eating our fan coral, brain coral, or any other coral they are resting upon. If anything they would be eating the coral slime, or competing for and consuming the food which the coral is capturing for itself.

 

[tursiops]

What they do, however. Is act as a disease vector, transferring it from one coral head to another.

 

[Sloeber]

What they do, however. Is act as a disease vector, transferring it from one coral head to another.

I'd be curious to see some literature on that if you have any available? I'd imagine its to the same degree as many fish such as gobies or eels and a host of other inverts like cucumbers, starfish, crabs, lobsters, and so on.

 

[tursiops]

I'd be curious to see some literature on that if you have any available? I'd imagine its to the same degree as many fish such as gobies or eels and a host of other inverts like cucumbers, starfish, crabs, lobsters, and so on.

It was part of some PhD thesis work at Stanford a few years ago. I don't recall the name of the lady doing the work, nor do I know the status of the thesis. I'd think it would have been published by now.

 

[tridacna]

I remember installing a bristleworm trap in my 600gal reef tank. I had a nuisance worm I was trying to eradicate. Remember that the rock (mostly Marshall Island),was about 3 years old in the tank.

I trapped about 30 worms on day one. 20 on day two. This went on for about 2 weeks before I stopped baiting the trap. It’s just remarkable how many I had in that tank. There were hundreds!