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October 9th BAR Meeting Featuring Leslie Harris

Leslie H, the worm expert from the natural history museum in Los Angeles? Cool! I will start looking for mysterious hitchhikers.
 
When I first started with a reef tank, Leslie H. helped me definitively identify this beast (found on my live rocks purchased from a giant tank with very well-fed tangs)
IMG_1653.jpg
 
Do they come w/meatballs?

Thanks for the info, Christina! If I see it and have a change to yank out the entire worm, I'll be bringing it to the meet. :D
 
Leslie's ID is a bit more specific than Jeremy's (which is accurate). Here is what she wrote about my eurythoe complanata:
"Those are Eurythoe complanata which is a scavenger and detritivore. They won't harm corals, clams, or anything healthy.

The big conspicuous species in the family Amphinomidae are all called fireworms. These include members of the genera Eurythoe, Hermodice, Pherecardia, Chloeia and Notopygos. Smaller ones have the same fiery effect but being overlooked by most people they don't get the honor of a common name.

Carnivorous just means meat eating and Eurythoe does eat meat. More importantly it's not a predator which goes after living or at least healthy animals. If a coral or clam develops necrotic flesh because of a disease or an attack by a real predator scavengers like Eurythoe or hermits will be attracted to it and move in to slurp up the dying flesh. Once started they may continue eating - I'm not sure if they stop or not. it may depend on whether they're getting adequate food.

Eurythoe's valuable in tanks as a detritivore eating excess food and feces. You can remove them or start limiting food going into the tank in which case the population will decrease as the food decreases. Gloves are always a good idea anyway - there have been cases of reefers getting nasty infections just from bacteria getting into cuts on hands."
 
GDawson said:
My first meeting....where at Chabot?

-Gregory


http://thebaymac.com/?q=node/8

Same directions as BAYMAC... only difference is it's in the Teachers Lounge. The maps will still get you to the building in question.
 
Unfortunately I have to cancel due to a family member's health problem. I was really looking forward to this talk. It was going to be a new format - a presentation based on club members' specific invert pics submitted in advance rather than a general "and this is an X" slide show. I was planning to bring a microscope so we could look at live animals as well. Hopefully we can reschedule it.

The good news is that Jeremy will find a fabulous replacement, won't you?
 
oh no, sorry to hear that Leslie :(

Also sorry to see it looks like the BAR website is having some issues. The format looks odd to me today and late last night all the posts were going to "bold".
 
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