Need help identifying a large worm

[dscuba]

Last night at Alki Cove 1 on the monolith(90'-100' depth), we saw 2 worm-like or eel like creatures. My dive buddy and I have never seen or heard of these before.

They were purple-ish in color, 12"~30" in length, at a distance looked like an eel, but upon closer examination looked more like a Hawaiian lei (flowery/frilly for the entire length).

Thanks for any ideas especially links to pictures of possible candidate species!
-Dave

[Greg Jensen]

I don't have any pictures, but given the size it sounds like Nereis brandti, which get up to 3 ft or so. VERY impressive critters when they come swimming out of the dark at you.

Here's a description with a pic:
http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/dep ... andti.html

Their comment about them not being good swimmers certainly doesn't apply to the ones I've seen...

[dscuba]

Hmm, I'm not sure that's it. It looked more "fluffy" than "scaly" to me.

[Tidepool Geek]

Hi Dave,

If your worm was 30" long it would almost have to be either Nereis brandti or N. virens. If it was 12" then you could include a number of other possibilities: N. vexillosa, Phyllodoce spp.,Glycera americana, or Nephtys spp. (which could be described as looking 'fluffy').

One of the problems with identifying errant polychaetes is that most of the pictures you're likely to find on the net will be of an adult animal that is NOT in its reproductive stage. Most if not all of the worms mentioned above reproduce by metamorphosing into an epitoke or 'swarmer' of some sort. An epitoke looks way different from the same animal in its ordinary form. An epitoke is also the more likely form that a diver would encounter in the open since the animals named above are almost exclusively burrowers or crevice dwellers.

Vermiculturally yours,

Alex