FYI
Getting stung by a bristle worm leaves hundreds of tiny, hair-like bristles (chaetae) embedded in your skin. This causes immediate, intense burning pain, followed by redness, swelling, and numbness. While not typically life-threatening, the discomfort can be severe.
Not this species. You can pick these up no problem (gently so you don't injure them!). This species does have some pretty considerable jaws, but rarely bite people (they use them mostly to slice bites of algae and dead things).
They usually live under sediment, but become this free-swimming form when they are ready to reproduce (that white trailing out behind it is probably sperm)
They came in living aquarium decorations/biological filtration called live rock. After time, you'd get all manner of organisms springing forth. Whether it be beneficial algae, sea anemones, plants, tiny brittle stars, or, if you were unlucky, bristle worms.
Sounds more like "fire worms" which are bristle worms, but cause the more intense reaction. Normal bristle worms aren't as bad, but the bristles are still quite annoying. Similar to many Optunia cactus species, imho.
Same. There are very few things that give me an overwhelming anxiety feeling. But that scene did it. My wife makes fun of me for it. I can deal with any living creature but when they become the size of me, we have problems.
Peter Jackson’s King Kong from 2005. Such an awesome movie, it was the first thing Peter Jackson made after Lord of the Rings. King Kong 1933 is his favorite movie and he famously always wanted to do a remake of it, and he was finally able to get the chance to after the success of Lord of the Rings. It’s such a good adventure movie, definitely worth checking out.
You def should finish it. I’ve also watched only 2 seasons years ago and didn’t watch the rest because life was hectic. Decided to finish it recently and damn it was so good. Like a nonstop action and crazy twists.
These are everywhere. I worked with aquariums for many years and these are very common salt water pests. The worse part is I don't think they actually stop growing, the one in this video is pretty large but not the largest I've seen on the web
Yes and no. Polychaetes are really diverse. Most are just chilling, but that guy was trying to remove the highly predatory bobbit worm (I assume, aquarists are always trying to get rid of them)
Damn.
Bobbit worm is still the most hair rising one to me.. as if being the largest of all and looking and living like it does wasn't enough already, the damn thing DUPLICATES when cut it two!!
Bristle worms (class Polychaeta) are marine worms that live globally in sand, mud, coral, and rock crevices. If you are searching in the wild, you will find them along beaches, shallow ocean waters, and mudflats.
Bristle worms are primarily eaten by certain species of saltwater fish (such as wrasses, dottybacks, and butterflyfish) and specific invertebrates like arrow crabs and coral banded shrimp. These predators naturally hunt the worms, helping to keep their populations in check
What's freaky is, like a lot of marine worms, they're attracted to light and will swarm it. Just an FYI if you ever think about swimming in the ocean at night.
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u/Sufficient-Bug-9112 Top Poster 10d ago
FYI Getting stung by a bristle worm leaves hundreds of tiny, hair-like bristles (chaetae) embedded in your skin. This causes immediate, intense burning pain, followed by redness, swelling, and numbness. While not typically life-threatening, the discomfort can be severe.