Quick help! What critter is this??

[mamasky712]

We had the lights out and hubby went to go outside and noticed this thing zipping around the tank. We were able to catch it while it was skimming the surface of the water. It is FAST! wth is it?? I had to try to snap pics when it stopped for a few seconds.
TIA!

 

[steve24]

never seen anything like it, but i like it ...

 

[ninjamini]

Thats a fire worm. Dont touch it you will get a nasty sting. They are good for the tank as a clean up crew but they can also eat corals. I had one chow down on a zoo colony.

 

[mamasky712]

Do fireworms swim back and forth in a tank at lightning fast speeds?? It took me like 10 minutes to get a good pic of this thing because it was swimming in circles so fast.

 

[dupreyjaq]

I see somthing like that every spring in the harbor swimming above the fish fry.

 

[coraldude]

It doesn't look like any fireworm I have seen. I would be careful and not touch it.

 

[ninjamini]

does it swim or move like a worm. squirming side over side to move in the water?

 

[wattsupdoc]

It's an alien!!!! RUN!!!!!!

I dont know what it is but it aint a fireworm .You can see what looks like eyes in the front of it.

 

[happyhourh]

It looks predatory because of those eyes. For sure not a fireworm. I would not put it in my tank.
Pretty cool though.

 

[earlybird]

Cool.

 

[renogaw]

yea lol, my first thought on that first pic was dude, you caught a jawfish...
then i saw the second pic and .. that's no jawfish LOL.
the eyes... the eyes!!!!
keeping this one on top.... hopefully someone can id it

 

[mamasky712]

I'm still not quite sure what it is. Someone on another forum gave me something close but I'm not convinced that's what it is.

 

[reefreak29]

Its a type of errantiate polychaete

 

[mscarpena]

I hate to say it, but if you are not sure I'd flush it. MIght be good, but also might be bad. I am with others I have no idea. Sorry.

 

[florida joe]

Don’t flush it I am sure you can contact Penn state I think they have a marine bio department send them an e-mail along with the pic

 

[ophiura]

It is almost certainly harmless. Definitely a polychaete and few are really bad. Quite few. It is quite possibly an epitoke, which is a reproductive stage.
I would not flush it, myself.