Is this a Fireworm?

[eternitybc]

I was feeding my Shimp and look what came out for some food. Should I be worried about this guy? He has got to be at least 10 inches.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/41/img0015yf.jpg
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/5870/img0013l.jpg

[the marine apprentice]

looks like a bristle worm to me. i have one thats about 6" long in my tank. he doesnt bother anything in my system

[tlo]

i agree, looks like a regular bristle worm. Some people like to take them out when they get that big. I just leave mine in the tank.

[ScubaSteve]

For the most part they are harmless. I have a 12" bristleworm that shares a home with my shrimp and goby (they all seem quite happy together surprisingly). I have another big one in a rock that my blenny backed into and got a butt full of bristles but that has been the only incident.

[untamed]

Yes, that is a bristle worm. Of course, I have tens of thousands of those in my current tank..

In my previous tank, I did have some that looked almost identical yet they ate SPS (Fireworms). It was very easy to remove these because they would latch onto the SPS and remain there for days. Just remove any that you see do that behaviour..the rest are harmless. As they have no teeth, they essentially have to gum the coral to eat it.