So I found the real bobbit worm...........

[asylumdown]

I know those things are way too destructive to allow to continue living in a reef tank, but I can't help but feel so sad for them when you see them in a bucket like that crawling around looking for a place to hide. They're gross, and predatory, but that thing is what it was born to be and like everything else in our tanks is just doing what it needs to survive. They're not sophisticated enough to be capable of malice or ill intent, they're simply procuring resources in the only way they can based on a bajillion years of evolution. It just so happens their method of resource acquisition is totally incompatible with a small glass box. If it had had a choice, it would never have left the ocean.

I know not many people have sympathy for them, but when I have to dispose of something that got in to my tank through no fault of its own I always feel sad about it. The only thing that makes me feel a little better is knowing that it's unlikely that critters that neurologically simple have much of an internal emotional state or a developed sense of self, but the fact that they are capable of reacting to external stimulus means that it has to have some level of awareness.

Edit: I just re-read that and realized how bleeding heart it sounded. Don't take that as a criticism for flushing it. I'd have done the same, and would have taken the same video and posted it too lol.