Thursday, March 08, 2007

Beautiful worms

fireworm

This is a polychaete worm, and to be specific, an expert tells me its a Chloeia sp. That makes it closely related to this bearded fireworm from april. Beautiful as these fuzzy appendages are, that fact means they're probably not worth a stroke. The exquisite detailing of the segments on the worm's back are a great example of what I love about macro diving. 6 metres beneath a typhoon affected philippine reef in the night time darkness I felt like no-one had ever properly seen this worm before me.

3 comments:

T. Beth said...

It reminds me of a stinging caterpillar... Or a feather boa.

Amy said...

Ooohh, that's rad.

tai haku said...

spot on Beth - it looks just like those Tuscon stinging caterpillars you featured the other day. I guess mechanically the sting is very similar.