I have a pico set up with native fanua from Connecticut. It's got some Pagurus longicarpus, some eastern mud snails, and...a worm that's best described as "short fat hairy worm that lives in a shell." Unfortunately I have no way to get a picture of this guy - he's just small enough and just fast enough that all I get is a brown blur when I try. However, I'm hoping someone here might be able to figure him out at least one bizzare trait.
- about 1" long, 1/4" wide, hasn't grown in ~6 months so I assume full sized.
- has some fine hairs running down the sides, but no real bristles to speak of.
- a couple of antenae at the front. Might be 4 total...very hard to tell since he hides so fast, but there are definitely 2 long ones, sort of ragworm style (although the rest of him looks like no ragworm I've ever seen).
- lives in small snail shells like a hermit crab.
What gets me is the last one. Not surprisingly, I ended up with Mr. Worm when I thought I had an empty mud snail shell. Sometimes the hermits decide they want Mr. Worm's shell, so they drag him out and he runs right back into another empty one of the right size - ignoring larger shells and other objects to hide in/under. There are plenty of other things he could go hide in, rocks, sand, empty barnacle shells, etc...but he only wants small snail shells. He sits coiled in them much like a hermit crab and drags them around somewhat. He collects food from what he can reach without leaving the shell, and retracts all the way into the shell if disturbed. However, I've turned up nothing looking for worms that live in shells. Mr. worm remains a mystery.
Does the description ring any bells to anyone?
- about 1" long, 1/4" wide, hasn't grown in ~6 months so I assume full sized.
- has some fine hairs running down the sides, but no real bristles to speak of.
- a couple of antenae at the front. Might be 4 total...very hard to tell since he hides so fast, but there are definitely 2 long ones, sort of ragworm style (although the rest of him looks like no ragworm I've ever seen).
- lives in small snail shells like a hermit crab.
What gets me is the last one. Not surprisingly, I ended up with Mr. Worm when I thought I had an empty mud snail shell. Sometimes the hermits decide they want Mr. Worm's shell, so they drag him out and he runs right back into another empty one of the right size - ignoring larger shells and other objects to hide in/under. There are plenty of other things he could go hide in, rocks, sand, empty barnacle shells, etc...but he only wants small snail shells. He sits coiled in them much like a hermit crab and drags them around somewhat. He collects food from what he can reach without leaving the shell, and retracts all the way into the shell if disturbed. However, I've turned up nothing looking for worms that live in shells. Mr. worm remains a mystery.
Does the description ring any bells to anyone?
