neon blue flashing worm thing? werid

[zack]

Anybody else?

 

[Jase]

arnjer's right...some brittle stars do this, particularly the ones that extend a leg or two to filter feed out of a hole in the rock.

 

[zack]

tonight i was feeding my sun polyps i just got a few days ago with a red light on using a lil eye droper. I saw this think that looked like a thin worm nothin like the bristle worm so i touched the end of it with the eye dropper and it started flashin neon blue. It freaked me out i got my hang out of the tank quick. Ive never seen or heard of this, what the hell is it.

[ August 08, 2001: Message edited by: zack ]

 

[arnjer]

lol check out this site it may answer some ?'s
http://home.att.net/~ophiuroid/

 

[ophiuroid]

Thanks, arnjer, for the publicity!

There are a number of animals that 'flash' like this...

As brittlestars commonly stick arms out of holes in rock, it is a possibility. I think that Dr. Ron on RC also had a similar question awhile back, and listed other possibilities.

As far as the brittle is concerned, this sort of 'flash' is a defensive mechanism. You can see in the photo below, that the central disk of the animal is dark- this is the most important part of the animal. Arms are commonly grabbed by crabs, or in your case, forceps. Often, the brittlestar will drop the arm, and it will keep flashing (the arm, of course, will eventually grow back). The crab is left with this odd meal while the rest of the brittle makes an escape. Ingenious, I would say...

But I am a bit biased.

I believe there are worms with the ability as well.

Here is a brittlestar, Amphiura filiformis (from site: http://lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/forum/ydewael1.html)

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Brittlestars!! http://home.att.net/~ophiuroid
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[ August 08, 2001: Message edited by: ophiuroid ]

 

[zack]

The arm did not fall off it just retracted back into the hole and then came back out and i did it again. I can see it during the day too coming out of the same rock, its real small the arm is a lil bit thicker then sewing thread.

 

[Stars360]

well dr. ron did have this question a while back, and do you know how i know. because i was the one asking it... here is the link check it outhttp://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin ... adid=19046

HTH....

 

[arnjer]

Are these reef safe I would like to get some for my 90 gal. Where can i get them and can I care for them like other brittlestars.