You never know what to expect underwater.
I caught this interaction while on a routine dive survey off the lab in Maizuru. These worms are pretty ubiquitous and I normally see them roaming around the bottom. Today we had a shoal of anchovies come through and I noticed a few while on the dive. This one was probably injured from an encounter with another large animal and was stuck in the algae dying. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a fireworm quickly coming its direction so I started to record.
Heres an exert from what is known about the species and its feeding behavior.
"Glasby & Bailey-Brock (2001) caught reef amphinomids by hook and line on carrion. Pardo & Amaral (2006) observed rapid chemotaxis of Eurythoe complanata to pieces of fish offered in aquaria. Detection of prey solutes elicited raising of the anterior 1/3 of the body, opening of the mouth and pharyngeal eversion. In the field, this posture would allow longer-range detection and easier determination of current direction in a bottom boundary layer. When worms reached the fish, the lower lip was sealed around it, and the muscular pharynx was used as a pump to draw the whole fish fragment in. Glasby & Bailey-Brock (2001) compiled evidence of carrion feeding in the form of capture on fishhooks and hand feeding in aquaria for Chloeia flava, Eurythoe complanata, Hermodice carunculata and Pherecardia striata."
Jumars, P.A., Dorgan, K.M. and Lindsay, S.M., 2015. Diet of worms emended: an update of polychaete feeding guilds. Annual review of marine science, 7(1), pp.497-520.
Song: Dromeda by Philanthrope
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