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

[originalozzyo]

Finally moved the tank and got everything setup. I pulled out another rock in my holding tank with my fish and remaining crabs and snails. Saw something move in a large rock with lots of cracks and crevices. My skin crawled and my blood froze. I'll let the pictures do the talking. I found more empty snail shells on the bottom of the tank near this rock. If anyone is suspecting one of these look for a whole lot of mucus stuff in openings and shells actually pulled into rock and wedged in there. I hope this is the last of it. I broke the tail off trying to take it out and it was moving around on its own. i think thats what happened the first time. This sucker was over a foot and half long. Sent it on a one way sea cruise.

Watch the video
http://videobam.com/SolIQ

[Slyguy00]

That is sooo nasty! I got goosebumps looking at the pic. I sure hope I never have to deal with one of those!

[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.

[originalozzyo]

I lost seven bartletts anthias, 9 chromis, two blennies, yellow wrasse, mandarin dragonet and untold shrimp, crabs and snails. Wish I had clued in earlier😡

[FishyFishy!]

Good thing you caught him!!! That thing is nasty!!

[scubadawg]

Here's a big Bobbit worm, photographed in Lembeh Straigt

[untamed]

Originally Posted by scubadawg

Here's a big Bobbit worm, photographed in Lembeh Straigt

I kept one that looked exactly like this in my first tank for many years. It was vegetarian. Some may be killers, but some are harmless and useful in aquariums.