Eunice aphroditois (colloquially known as the Bobbitt worm or sand striker) is an aquatic predatory polychaete worm dwelling at the ocean floor. An ambush predator, the Bobitt worm buries its three-foot-long body into an ocean bed composed of gravel, mud, or corals, where it waits for a stimulus to one of its five antennae, attacking when it senses prey. Armed with sharp teeth, it is known to attack with such speed and ferocity that its prey is sometimes sliced in half.
Saltwater aquariums almost always contain live rock. Live rock is full of helpful bacteria and all sorts of little creatures that help keep things clean and increase biodiversity.
Sometimes it is also full of unhelpful creatures. Mantis shrimp (no, they don’t break glass, but they’ll eat your critters) are the most common baddie. Bobbit worms are rare, but happen- probably the case in the video. They’ll eat all your fish. Some people keep them as weird pets in their own tank when they can get one from another person who’s accidentally gotten one.
Shockingly, they are not the worst-case scenario. What is? Blue-ringed octopus. And that has happened.
Those unhelpful creatures, and the toll the harvesting takes on ecosystems, are the two primary reasons why ‘farmed’ live rock (rock placed in vats full of only the helpful beasties) is becoming more common and much more popular.
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