Bristleworms are taking over the earth!!! Run for your lives!!!

SIIIIIIIIIIIICCKKK!!!!!!! One is too many in my tank!

 

Very cool, I would get a few for my sump and fuge

 

Personally I despise them, while I do realize nature has a use for them, there is also a thing known as population explosion- I wonder why no marine biologist was interviewed about what they do- and can do, to critters and people in these numbers. Where is their control factor? Fished out I would guess.

That many worms could kill any human being- easily, you would be seen as food- for a very short period.

A fisher man that has no clue what they are- hmmm. he is in the know isnt he.

 

OMG AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I was waiting for godzilla fish to come and gulp them all up.

 

Stuff & nonsense! It's a normal event that takes place once or a couple times a year in certain species, as normal as coral spawning.

The worms are nereid polychaetes. They live hidden in the mud and are dangerous only to critters smaller than themselves. Many nereids are mud swallowers - they digest the organic matter, bacteria, algae, etc., that's on the mud. Carnivores can't exist in huge populations like that because there's not enough prey to support them but herbivores & mud-eaters can.

They do have jaws but are not in the least interested in live humans. If they bite people it's an automatic defense reaction, not predation. A body would have to be nicely rotten and oozy for them to show any interest in it.

Some species do these mass spawning events once or twice a year. Some undergo major, irreversible modifications of the body in order to swim up to the surface while others have only minor or no modifications at all. The ones with big changes tend to die after spawing; the others can swim back down to the bottom.

It's a pretty safe bet that all of you with live rock and sand beds have nereids somewhere in your tanks.

 

Wow, that's a nice visual. LOL

Thanks Leslie. It's nice to get an experts opinion.

 

Holy crap Curt ! here I am trying to enjoy the morning cup of Joe and then I watch this video ….. but I must admit I was picturing a couple of coworkers that I would like to push into that water -- so with that said, thank you Curt ! This thought will get me through my day every time I see these idiots. I just hope I don’t laugh in their face at the thought of it ! hehe *evil grin*

 

I don't know why I read these threads before I eat my breakfast but it's turning out to be a pretty good diet plan

 

Day 2 and I still have not clicked on the link. I have learned my lesson with inwall and gross links. After his posting of an image of a parasite that eats tongues and then becomes one, no thank you.

Interesting though

 

I do put up nice links too though. ;D