What is this critter???

[surfrgurl]

Hi All,
Last night, when the lights were dim, I look into my tank and found this worm like thing!!! No clue how it got there or how long it was in my tank. When I turned the light on to get a better look, it seemed to go into the sand to hide from the light. I had a heck of a time getting this picture!!! Anyone know what this is? Is it a "bad" guy???

 

[thomas712]

Nice looking bristle worm you have there, good thing to have in the tank.
Thomas

 

[wwfstyle]

I have heard that you never want to touch these guy. I would like to know why and how it feels. I heard that they can sting you, is this true? Rick

 

[nm reef]

Yup...definitely looks like a common bristle worm....they can be a positive addition to a marine system and seldom create problems. There are horror stories but personally I encourage them to thrive in my system. They are a great scavenger and help to ariate the sand bed.
They don't actually sting...at least I don't believe they do. They sort of inject the bristles along their bodies which causes some minor irration...I've felt their wrath on a few different occassions. I flush the inflicted area with warm water and attempt to avoid scratching for a few days. They've never really bothered me much...but it is irratating.

 

[reefer44]

I have a 6 inch bristle in me refugium and i dind't see him when i was putting some macro algae in there...and it hurt!!!!!!!!!!They push there spines into u like a porcipine and they're impossible to get out of ur hand!