Critter ID help

[scubajunkee]

Hi there,

I dove the Metridium Fields (San Carlos Beach) in Monterey, CA USA, today and came across this creature. It's about 4-6 inches tall. Any one have an idea what it is? I've never seen anything like it.

Thanks,

Ericson

 

[Rick Murchison]

Now that is one wierd critter! Never seen anything like that in the wild or even in a book.
Rick

 

[LeslieH]

How very cool! It's a polychaete worm, Praxillura maculata. I've never seen a live one before - only preserved specimens & their tubes. They attached strings of mucus to the rays coming off the tube opening & wait for bits of detritus or small critters to get caught on the strings. Then they swallow the strings, digest the organic bits, and put out fresh mucus -- all very energy efficient. I study polychaetes - can I download your images for my research files? No commercial use, I promise!

 

[Rick Murchison]

How very cool indeed!
A web spinning worm!
That's positively fascinating...
Thanks for sharing the pics; thanks for the info.
Now I've got to find one.
Rick

 

[scubajunkee]

Leslie,

Thanks for the ID. If you PM your email address to me, I can give you the hi-res pics.

Thanks,

Ericson

How very cool! It's a polychaete worm, Praxillura maculata. I've never seen a live one before - only preserved specimens & their tubes. They attached strings of mucus to the rays coming off the tube opening & wait for bits of detritus or small critters to get caught on the strings. Then they swallow the strings, digest the organic bits, and put out fresh mucus -- all very energy efficient. I study polychaetes - can I download your images for my research files? No commercial use, I promise!

 

[LeslieH]

That would be super, many thanks! There's another type of polychaete which does much the same thing. It's Lanice, a spagetti worm; for that one you would normally see only its white tentacles moving along the rays & webbing. Different species occur worldwide so Rick, you has a chance of finding one in the Gulf if you do muck dives.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Different species occur worldwide so Rick, you has a chance of finding one in the Gulf if you do muck dives.

We have the spaghetti worms and medusa worms, but this fellow is very different in the use of those rigid arms on which to "spin" the mucus "web" - that's just fascinating and new to me - what a wondrous adaptation and food gathering scheme.
Rick

 

[DennisW]

Very cool.

 

[Li'l38]

Very cool.

Ditto. Thanks for sharing that. Interesting creature, Nice job!

 

[KidK9]

Holy crap that's crazy!!!