slug / caterpillar thing?

[914]

OK then.. (yeah, i just looked in the faq... hence the edit!)

just picked up a piece of FL aquacultured rock,and when i got home i found (among other more identifiable HH) a thing that bears an amazing resemblance to a butterfly caterpillar.


it was about an inch long, and fairly slender for it's length. colored mostly brownish, with some yellow/lighter patterning. no obvious gills or frilly structures that would look like a nudibranch..


the part that stumps me is that i has legs! yes.. legs.. (i shoulda counted 'em. better yet, i should by a digital camera..)

there were paired legs, ala caterpillar, pretty stumpy and with little 'picks' coming out of the end of each (almost peg-legs... avast ye mateys!)

they reminded me a LOT of the leg/hairs on the common earthworm (lumbricus terrestricus being my fav dissection study from HS bio..), except they had fleshy stumps from which the protruded..

when i poked it, it really moved out! headed right for a hole in the rock, and appeared to have no difficulty moving out of water.

any ideas?

thanks!

[ March 16, 2002: Message edited by: 914 ]</p>

 

[Bookworm]

Is it segmented? Your comparison to an earthworm may be telling. The annelids have many marine represenatives including bristle worms, and various types of tube worms like the "feather dusters". I used to spend a lot of time worrying about bristle worms and how to get rid of them. I was led to believe that they were ravenous coral eaters. More recently I've been told that they perform valuable services in DSBs, and pose little threat to corals particularly when small. Come to think of it, I never saw them actually bothering my corals. However, I suggest keeping an eye on them, and removing large ones if they become a nuissance.

 

[914]

thanks!

i'm well aware that the 'bristleworms' are for the most part very beneficial...... and they look a lot like the 'sandworms' we used for bait, fishing for flounder as a kid.

anyhow, this is not a bristleworm, and i'm doubful it was segmented. the earthworm comparison had to do with the 'legs'... they were like short, stiff, thick hairs.

seriously, it most resembled a butterfly caterpillar.

'keep an eye on it..' ha!

 

[Bookworm]

Sorry, forgot what board I was on. I had just been looking over a board dedicated to novices before checking on this one. It didn't occur to me until afterwards that you probably weren't a newbie, and would be very familiar with bristle worms. Anyway, I'd love to see a picture if you can find a way to get one.

 

[914]

yah..

i swear, i almost put that rock back in the box and went out and bought a digital camera...

but, i didn't want to wait to get the rock into the tank, hoping to keep as much biodiveristy as possible.

(sorry if i sounded prickly on the 'novice' thing, that wasn't my intention!)

if i ever see it again, i'll try to catch/isolate it to get some pics... but i'm not too optomistic about that. it looked like a very effective hider.

thanks for your interest, i'd really love to know what it is!

 

[zeldapinwheel]

My guess would be a bristleworm.

 

[914]

nope..

it's a mantis! i was moving the rock around today, and actually found it...


it's living in a 10gal now, i'll have to figure out a more permanent arrangement soon....