Worm identification

KRains

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I am in the process of moving my tank to a larger one. While removing the rock and sand I caught 3 large worms. I can’t tell if they are large bristle worms or possibly Oenone fulgida? They don’t have the large tentacles of a eucilide. It has a black mouth/head which doesn’t match my other bristle worms. Are there any opinions on here?

Sorry for the dirtiness of the overall picture. I’ll try and clean it and post an update.

Regardless they are quarantined at the moment and will most likely be headed to the train station.

Thanks

IMG_8347.jpeg IMG_8346.jpeg IMG_8348.jpeg
 
OP
OP
K

KRains

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vetteguy53081

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I am in the process of moving my tank to a larger one. While removing the rock and sand I caught 3 large worms. I can’t tell if they are large bristle worms or possibly Oenone fulgida? They don’t have the large tentacles of a eucilide. It has a black mouth/head which doesn’t match my other bristle worms. Are there any opinions on here?

Sorry for the dirtiness of the overall picture. I’ll try and clean it and post an update.

Regardless they are quarantined at the moment and will most likely be headed to the train station.

Thanks

IMG_8347.jpeg IMG_8346.jpeg IMG_8348.jpeg
Eunicid worm and one you want to eliminate. They grow yet larger than this and can disrupt a perfectly balanced tank
 

ISpeakForTheSeas

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I don't have the time to look to in depth on this tonight (I'll try to figure out a proper ID tomorrow), but these are definitely not Eunicid worms, so they're not bobbits or Oenone fulgida.

OP, can you get some pics of them in their QT setup under white light? Both top-down, straight-on pics and straight-on, side-shot pics would be useful. A clear pic of that third worm's head may help as well.

I can't tell for sure from the other pics, but I'm guessing you have multiple different species here.

Also, to be sure it's not just my eyes playing trick on me, does the worm in the first pic (quoted below) have two pairs of parapodia (the little parts where the bristles come out of the worm) on each body segment instead of one pair? Because it looks to me like it has four total parapodia on each body segment instead of the usual bristleworm total of two parapodia on each segment.

In other words, does this worm have one top left tuft of bristles, one bottom left tuft of bristles, one top right tuft of bristles, and one bottom right tuft of bristles? Or does it just have a left tuft and a right tuft like most bristleworms? (Clear, straight-on side pics of the worm would answer this question for me if you're not sure.)
 

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