# What type of worm is this? Pix inside.



## JESTERx626 (Apr 5, 2009)

Description:
-They are reddish-colored on the bottom, brownish-colored on the top.
-The sides of the worm look like tiny stubby sharp legs
-They are about 4.5" long
-These were bought as fishing bait, I was told it was called "Sand worm".
-I googled up "sand worm" but it didn't look like what I had.
-I was told that this worm has a mouth that bites, but i'm not sure.

















Whatever this worm is, I was wondering if it's okay to feed my T's and my predatory fish with them.

Any ideas?


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## skippy (Apr 5, 2009)

if it is a sand or pile worm then it's a salt water species and you might not want to feed your Ts with them. the fish on the other hand should be fine


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## Miss Bianca (Apr 5, 2009)

Sorry I can't be more help but definetely do _not_ give these to your Ts.


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## JESTERx626 (Apr 5, 2009)

I did a search on Pile Worm. It indeed is a pile worm. Is there anything wrong with feeding it to my t's or fish? Any noxious things the worm can release or bad taste? Anyone ever tried?


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## skippy (Apr 5, 2009)

like i said before: salt water species.

fine for fish but i would recommend against feeding it to a T(and yes it does have big black fangs that can give you a hell of a bite )


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## Newports (Apr 5, 2009)

skippy said:


> like i said before: salt water species.
> 
> fine for fish but i would recommend against feeding it to a T(and yes it does have big black fangs that can give you a hell of a bite )


Can these guys really give you a nasty bite? Aren't these the worms that a lot of bait shops sell? Im pretty sure I've used them all the time when I used to fish with my dad and although I did see they did have mandibles or fangs, they never bit me.


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## skippy (Apr 5, 2009)

the ones i'm referring to(can't be positive because of the pic) are greenish usually and have nasty black serrated fangs that come out of the head to try to grab you. blood worms are similar except they are red. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX8DQ436F4g)


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## skips (Apr 5, 2009)

so it's a small polychaete.  Still a segmented worm, but not in the same class as earth worms.  I don't know that species, but all have those chaetae (side bristles) which they use to cut through coral and pretty much anything else.  Some have venom that can cause paralysis in wherever they bite.  I'm not sure about that species, but alot of them are pretty gnarly, and they do fight back.  Check out this recent article and you'll see what I mean.  Picture the one you have, but 5 feet long.

http://news.aol.com/article/giant-sea-worm/412269


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## skips (Apr 5, 2009)

Newports said:


> Can these guys really give you a nasty bite? Aren't these the worms that a lot of bait shops sell? Im pretty sure I've used them all the time when I used to fish with my dad and although I did see they did have mandibles or fangs, they never bit me.


They don't have mandibles or fangeds.  More like four black teeth they use to clamp onto prey (they're all predatory).  Some with venom.  here, watch this video and you'll see the polychaete role back and open it's mouth to bite the nemertine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVvZc_QgAC4


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## Kirk (Apr 6, 2009)

It's a polychaete (Phylum Annelida, Class Polychaeta) of the family Nereididae. They do have an eversible proboscis, at the end of which are a pair of jaws that they use to catch prey. There are a number of polychaetes distributed among several families that have jaws of varying number.

Another type of polychaete commonly sold in bait stores are called blood worms, which are members of the family Glyceridae. They too have an extensible proboscis, at the end of which are four very small jaws.

The Annelida comprises the segmented worms, and the other class in the group is the Clitellata, which consists of earthworms (which has marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species) and leeches (also with marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species). Polychaetes, of which there are over 10,000 described species distributed in over 80 families, are primarily marine; there are only a few freshwater species.

Segmented worms should not be confused with flatworms (phylum Platyhelminthes), round worms (phylum Nematoda), horsehair worms (phylum Nematomorpha), or proboscis worms (phylum Nemertea).


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## blazetown (Apr 7, 2009)

chone1 said:


> It's a polychaete (Phylum Annelida, Class Polychaeta) of the family Nereididae. They do have an eversible proboscis, at the end of which are a pair of jaws that they use to catch prey. There are a number of polychaetes distributed among several families that have jaws of varying number.
> 
> Another type of polychaete commonly sold in bait stores are called blood worms, which are members of the family Glyceridae. They too have an extensible proboscis, at the end of which are four very small jaws.
> 
> ...


Oh course Chone knows. He's the master of all those giant sea worms that disgust me...


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## Kirk (Apr 7, 2009)

blazetown said:


> Oh course Chone knows. He's the master of all those giant sea worms that disgust me...


LOL. Yes well, I am the curator of polychaetes at the museum where I work, and have been dealing with the little devils for 30 years now. Most are not giant, which is why people would never know they're crawling around beneath your feet along the sea shore. The biggest one I ever saw was 18 feet long, from Sydney, Australia. The majority, however, are less than 1".


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## skips (Apr 7, 2009)

chone1 said:


> LOL. Yes well, I am the curator of polychaetes at the museum where I work, and have been dealing with the little devils for 30 years now. Most are not giant, which is why people would never know they're crawling around beneath your feet along the sea shore. The biggest one I ever saw was 18 feet long, from Sydney, Australia. The majority, however, are less than 1".


Curator of polychaetes?  I was just about to call shenigans and acuse you of wikipedia-ing polychaetes.  How many polychaetes does a museum have to have that necessitates a curator of polychaetes?  That would be so impressive.


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## Kirk (Apr 7, 2009)

skips said:


> Curator of polychaetes?  I was just about to call shenigans and acuse you of wikipedia-ing polychaetes.  How many polychaetes does a museum have to have that necessitates a curator of polychaetes?  That would be so impressive.


We have one of the largest collections in the world. The collection room is over 4,500 square feet, with over 200,000 containers (all preserved specimens). Here is the front page to info on the collection, and from there you can navigate to the other pages regarding our polychaete collection.


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## JESTERx626 (Apr 7, 2009)

I was at your place of work few weeks ago! I especially enjoyed the preserved coelacanth and the insect exhibit part lol


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## Kirk (Apr 7, 2009)

JESTERx626 said:


> I was at your place of work few weeks ago! I especially enjoyed the preserved coelacanth and the insect exhibit part lol


Thanks. Our insect zoo is staffed by some great people. Speaking of which, our annual Bug Fair takes place on 16-17 May. Thousands of people show up, and there'll be a lot of vendors, including ones selling tarantulas. Plus, you'll see me at my polychaete table.


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## JESTERx626 (Apr 9, 2009)

chone1 said:


> Thanks. Our insect zoo is staffed by some great people. Speaking of which, our annual Bug Fair takes place on 16-17 May. Thousands of people show up, and there'll be a lot of vendors, including ones selling tarantulas. Plus, you'll see me at my polychaete table.


Awesome! see you there. -Jeff


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## skips (Apr 9, 2009)

chone1 said:


> We have one of the largest collections in the world. The collection room is over 4,500 square feet, with over 200,000 containers (all preserved specimens). Here is the front page to info on the collection, and from there you can navigate to the other pages regarding our polychaete collection.


very cool.  So what is the museum's interest with ID verse Evolution?  Are they doing research or just making a point?


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## Kirk (Apr 9, 2009)

skips said:


> very cool.  So what is the museum's interest with ID verse Evolution?  Are they doing research or just making a point?


Natural history museums are places where evolutionary research often takes place, so it's part of my research. Something of a spin off from work I've done on the philosophy of evolutionary biology. Many of the errors in reasoning committed by biologists are paralleled among intelligent design creationists.


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