8" worm hiding in rock

[nicknacs]

I found this guy out of the rock one day. whatever it is it must have been really hungry because i haven't seen it before and its kinda hard to miss now. It never came all the way out of the rock and what was out was about 8" long and a muddy brown color. It's in a rock all the way on the bottom of the tank and i would have to tare the whole reef apart to get to it. and it kinda scared me because i just did that like 2 months ago and never seen it. I really hope its friendly !

 

[snakeblitz33]

Looks like a regular bristle worm to me. It's a common detrivore - it feeds off of leftover foods, waste and detrital material. If you have any dead fish or clams in the tank, you will often find these guys wrapping themselves around em'. They are very beneficial.
If you see one, chances are you have a few dozen others that you haven't seen. I knew I had one that was about a foot long in my old 90g tank that I saw every now and then - or so I thought. I had a large clam die on me one night and I just happened to wake up (due to my dam insomnia) and look at my tank and I saw probably 35-40 of them about 8" to 16" each devouring my 4" clam. The next morning the clam was picked clean... It was insanely awesome to witness.

 

[nicknacs]

I don't have any clams and am not ready for them yet. Good to know I don't have to try to find it and pull it out because I really didn't want to touch it lol.