Spaghetti Worm

On our first snorkeling trip out to Old Sweat my attention and amusement was captured by a small invertebrate that resembled a branch protruding out off the sand and attached to the top were these bluish green tentacles (which at the time I thought was just slime or intestines left by some sea cumber or a sea anemone ) . At first I paid little attention to these branch like organisms but then I started to see more and more the further I went along the sea grass bed. Until I could not ignore this curiosity  anymore and dove down to see what it really was. Once I over the branch like organism I begun to poke at the stem of the branch and to my amazement the tentacles began to recoil into the branch . This was extremely amusing for me so much so I began to search this organism out and even tried to get Monica to poke at as well. It wasn't until we got back to the boat that I discovered that it was a spaghetti worm a species of tube worm. More specifically it was the Eupolymnia  crassicornis (I mistakenly thought it was the Lanise  conchilega which is found closer to sandy intertidal habitats) which is found in the waters of the Caribbean.

The E.crassicornis is an Annelida that resides in the family Terebellidae and what is truly interesting about this polychaete is the way in which it feeds. The bluish green tentacles that captured  my attention spread out from the mouth calcareous shell and stretch (the range varies from individual to individual )  and used to extract food particles from the subtract or the water column. But the most peculiar thing about these tentacles is the fact that they warrant predatory attention but yet receive very little. This is could possibly be due to the presence of a secondary metabolic chemical defense lining the oddly colored tentacles. (G.Gaston and M.Slattery) I noticed this by the comparison of the Elbow  (a patch reef ) and Old sweat (sea grass bed) and the higher abundance of fishes species within the Elbow than in Old sweat and yet the abundance and length of E.crassicornis  was the same as it was in less fish abundant habitat of Old Sweat.

Figure 1. Shows an attempt at finding E.crassicornis 

Figure .2 To the top right of Manicinia areolata is the Eupolymnia  crassicornis with its tentacles stretched out along the sea grass bed. 

References:

(Ecological Function of Chemical Deterrents in a Tropical Polychaete, Eupolymnia crassicornis (Annelida,Terebellidae),in Belize by Gary R.Gaston and Marc Slattery Journal: Bulletin of Marine Science, 891-897,2002)