What kind of worm...

[alink708]

I have a worm an was wondering if anyone knows what it could be. Its about 1/16th inch thick and a few inches long. I have seen it drop out of his hole in my LR at night. Has spines like a bristle worm down both sides but the spines are spaced further apart then the rest of the bristles in the tank. There is also a layer of clear/grey slime around the opening to his hole. I cant get a picture because he is lightning fast and as soon as i move my red light he retracts back into his hole in the blink of an eye. He is WAY faster then all the other bristles in there. He slides out and seems to munch on the LR for a few seconds then shoots back up to his hole. Cant tell what color he is as I can only spot him with the red light but he is a lighter color...maybe yellow or grey.
Hoping someone knows...maybe his slime around the entrance will give someone a clue. I checked a few hitchiker guides and cant find it.

 

[mr_X]

it might be oenone fulgida. These are sessile invert eaters. they spit a mucous over the snail or clam and smother it, then burrow a hole in the shell and eat it. very fast and hard to catch. i've been tormented by a few of them in various tanks.
you can see this one on the left (this was one of my heavily fed refugiums)

 

[mr_X]

here's another picture of one i caught...

 

[alink708]

That kind of looks like it. Possibly why 2 snails have died in the last 2 weeks? Will a worm trap work for these guys?

 

[alink708]

Hey Mr X ... still trying to catch the worm with tweezers, he's fast! But I found this picture over on nano reef and this is exactly what I have. It was un-identified on there. I had to resize the pic so it might be alittle blurry might not be able to see the antenna's on it but it has 4 or 5

 

[mr_X]

i would think that's a eunicid worm. a soft coral eater more than a snail eater. hard to tell though without seeing the head.