Northwest Dive Club

Out at Les Davis tonight and a worm caught my eye in the water column at about 20', during my safety stop. I have seen many worms before, but when I downloaded this one the colors and "hairs" extending from it were something I had never seen. I wish I would have taken a couple more photos. Any idea what kind of worm this is?

Wow -- that's wild! Can't wait to see what the experts have to say.

I have not a clue, but that is one badass picture.

You always see crazy stuff hanging out for deco/safety stops! Awesome!
Kirsten

I am wondering if my strobe hit it is a certain way to show the colors. It is an interesting one for sure.

Hi Jesse,

It would take a lot more information to come up with a species or even genus I.D. on your worm.

Having said that, it's almost certainly an epitoke (reproductive stage) from an errant polychaete. Here are a couple of threads where epitokes have been discussed:

http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=10767

http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=16572

The color is probably iridescense from your strobes and is typical of Nerieds (clam worms) and some others.

Speculatively yours,

Alex

Cool! Thanks, Alex!

Alex, thanks for the write-ups and links. I appreciate it.

Hi everyone -

Greg Jensen was at the museum yesterday & diplomatically reminded me that I was a flake for not showing up here more often.
So....

Not really an epitoke, just an egg-filled polychaete in the family Cirratulidae. Epitokes usually have distinct modifications of the body. This one doesn't. The colors are intensified by the lights & altered a bit - that blue is definitely an effect of the lights - but otherwise natural.

Many of the so-called sedentariates also swim into the water to spawn.

Cheers, Leslie