Scary alien worm ???

[calypsonick]

Locatoin: North coast East Timor
Length: 6 inches
Depth: 12 m on sandy bottom

This critter was found hanging on to the top of a tube anemone tube. Anyone know what it is ? It was giving me the heebeegeebees!

 

[scubak]

Don't know what it is but it sure is cool. Great pic!
K

 

[Rick Murchison]

Looks like it belongs in a tube to me... my bet is an annelid of some sort that's been flushed out of his usual residence.
But I wouldn't bet much on that assessment
Whatever it is, it is a maximum cool critter!
(unless, of course, it wasn't moving... in which case it could be a fancy string of egg casings)
Rick

 

[LeslieH]

Hi Nick -- Brian emailed me about it. Here's what I wrote him:

"Did you actually see the anemone? If not, I suspect the tube belongs to the worm. What you photographed is the hind end of a chaetopterid polychaete, probably Chaetopterus. People thought that one species in particular, C. variopedatus, was a cosmopolitan species, meaning it lived everywhere around the world. Lately some researchers have been taking a closer look at the worms & realizing that you could easily tell the difference between regional populations, even between habitat populations in an area, and that these are all valid species. Chaetopterids are especially nifty even for polychaetes. They have 3 distinct body regions none of which look as if they belong together. Some of them create mucus nets to filter food particles out of the water as it flows through their tubes. General information here:
http://www.seafriends.org.nz/indepth/nd002.htm and more specific information here http://www.mbl.edu/marine_org/marine_org.php?func=detail&myID=ITA-67097

Cheers, Leslie

 

[calypsonick]

Wow, Leslie!! You are a wealth of worm knowledge. If that is only the hind end, I am afraid to imagine what the whole thing must look like when it is out and about. Jeeeesh! Thanks for enlightening us once again