7" Bright Red Worm ID

[rroselavy]

Hmm... I thought there would be more posts in this forum.

Here is an ID request for you experts...

I have this huge 7+ inch worm in my tank that I see surface from time to time. I have never seen this guy do anything bad, but I do not see him often. It is not like anything I have seen before, not a bristle, medusa, et cetera. I took a movie a few weeks ago. Please take a look. Let me know if the movie does not play:

Big Red Worm Movie

[rayme07]

It is not playing for me. But here is a link to a guide for hitchhiker worms. HTH

Worm Hitch Hikers

[Amphibious]

I can’t get the movie to play either. When I drag and drop the photo to my desktop, it shows as JPG format.

Dick

[V]

yeah i just got it to work, but she took awhile.

Ive used a tool for ya anyways ampage, give me a sec & i'll have a still for you.

It definitely looks like a myriapod of some sort

[V]

[CarmieJo]

I had to wait for a minute for the video to actually load but there was nothing to tell me that it was loading.

Wow, I have never seen a worm like that. He looks pretty cool.

[rroselavy]

Thanks for the screen grab V. Thanks everyone else for taking a look. I've been to a few ID sites with no luck yet. I may send it to the WWM team for an ID.

The worm is pretty much solid bright red (not a blend of colors or see through like some other worms) and the "protective setae" (if that is what they are) running down its length do not appear to be bristles like many other worms but rather a U shaped appendage. The head of the worm (I assume it is the head by the action) has a slight dragon-head shape with two tiny blue dots that look like eyes.

The worm can recoil VERY fast, probably because it holds onto something stable (like LR) while it extends its body. It spends most of its time, and has most of its body, submerged in the substrate. I got a really good glimpse of his length because after I took the movie he had his back end holding onto some LR while his front end was against the glass. Never quite saw the tail, so he might be longer than 7"

[rayme07]

It certainly is a beautiful worm. If he has not bothered anything I would say keep him.

[V]

what was that worm that lived inside the massive dudes tank for years & it grew to be a monster, Im wondering if its the same thing. wow, too long ago & the memory is not what it once was. Hope you get an ideal soon enough, sorry we havn't been able to ID it yet.

[rroselavy]

Got some leads from a worm expert here:

7" Bright Red Worm ID

Interesting

[V]

definate;ly a lead anyways