Interesting night creature.. Worm Maybe?

[Roko]

Howdy! I've been trying to figure out what this creature is, and got a recommendation to try this forum to find some ID experts..

My Girlfriend and I did a night dive on Jan 2, at Whytecliff park in BC. Near the end of the dive, we were cutting across the bay (we heard that's where the seals hang out.. not that night though), and in the shallows (less than 15tf) we came across some strange critters swimming around, and quite a few of them. They were maybe 3-4 inches (hard to say for sure, maybe more maybe less) long, and swam in a really neat way through the water...

I happened to be video taping while maneuvering around to take a photo of this sculpin, and at the very end of the video, you can see it clearly swimming by:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMI24tU2f5g

And a photo...


Another photo, but bigger.. not necessarily clearer:
http://www.dive.roko.ca/mystery2.JPG

Does anyone have any ideas? My girlfriend's best guess corroborates some other ideas on Scubaboards, that it's some sort of Polychaete, but we'd like to get a definitive answer, as we're not sure.

Another hypothesis of what it might be that my girlfriend's come up with is a quillfish larvae, based off the description in Lamb and Hanby's Marine Life of the PNW... But we're definatley amateurs and very new to the field of sea critter identification...

[nwscubamom]

What a cool find and thanks for posting here!

I've sent off your request to several folks, and hope to hear from them soon. We're lucky to have a worm expert, Leslie, from the LA County Natural History Museum to help ID these mystery critters (and yours is likely a worm).

- Janna

[nwscubamom]

Hi Janna --

It's very clearly a nereid epitoke. No way to go past family without the animal in front of me.

Say hello to everyone on NWDC for me, I don't get over there enough these days.

Cheers, Leslie

[airsix]

Cool. Now I know the name of the thing that creeped me out that one time... (It went straight for my face and last time I saw it it was slithering toward my ear.)

[defied]

What a cool find and thanks for posting here!

I've sent off your request to several folks, and hope to hear from them soon. We're lucky to have a worm expert, Leslie, from the LA County Natural History Museum to help ID these mystery critters (and yours is likely a worm).

- Janna

Hi Janna --

It's very clearly a nereid epitoke. No way to go past family without the animal in front of me.

Say hello to everyone on NWDC for me, I don't get over there enough these days.

Cheers, Leslie

whuh?

Oh, you copied and pasted.... that was trippy...

D(B)

[Waynne Fowler]

Cool. Now I know the name of the thing that creeped me out that one time... (It went straight for my face and last time I saw it it was slithering toward my ear.)

Thats because they live on human brains. When they're around me... they always seem to go for the other divers?????? why is that???

[Grateful Diver]

Janna, if she wants one I can probably get her one ... I see them on most of the lumpie dives.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[nwscubamom]

Thanks Bob.

I heard back from Andy Lamb and Jeff Christiansen too - all agree regarding the ID of this critter.

Andy says to look on page 144 in his book, under the Sea Nymph section, to find out more about them.

- Janna

PS: And just a reminder to all here - The Critter section of NWDC is a NHZ (No Hijacking Zone) - if you're new that means your replies in the thread need to be on-topic, or at least offer something constructive in addition to your silly comments. Thanks!