Leslie - One for you!

Ned and Paul are in st. Vincent at the moment - i showed them these pictures and they said that they had never seen anything like this, so now I'm excited!

Leslie any idea?

The worm at first appeard to be a juvenile Harlequin Pipe fish, same coloration, etc... but on closer inspection its way longer and has a mouth that kind of pushes out in front and is then sucked back inside. It moves as though 'sniffing' its surroundings, and its stretchy, but its skin feels as though it has scales... really weird!

Size about the same as a length / thickness of angel hair pasta when animal is 'extended'.

Depth seen approx 10 metres / 30 feet.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

No, for the Nemertinator...

Tubulanus rhabdotus (Nemertea), nothing specific known about feeding but probably a predator and scavenger. Perfect desription of its head movement. However, skin is fully ciliated but covered in mucus that it probably makes sticky when handled. What is location of find please? Any data on size? Thanks.

Hi Jon -- Definitely one for you!

BrianM photographed this as well. Hopefully he'll also join in with some info on location and such.

More information & pictures can be found on these pages (all 3 of which Jon did or contributed to)

http://nemertes.si.edu/Searches/TSearch.ph...ecies=rhabdotus

http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Tubula_rhabdo.htm

http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bocas_database...ch/species/2616?

Cheers, Leslie

Did someone mention me? What a memory you have Leslie.

Yes, I photographed a similar Nemertean Worm at a site called "New Guinea", St Vincent on 3rd Nov 2007. Click Here at 15 metres

I didn't know what is was at the time but Leslie on another board (I dare not speak it's name ) kindly identified it for me.

btw. Don't Ned & Paul always dive with Bill over at Dive St Vincent, though I guess they could have got fed up with the lack of rinse facilities and wandered over to Indigo. I know I will next time.

Did someone mention me? What a memory you have Leslie.

 

Yes, I photographed a similar Nemertean Worm at a site called "New Guinea", St Vincent on 3rd Nov 2007. Click Here at 15 metres

I didn't know what is was at the time but Leslie on another board (I dare not speak it's name ) kindly identified it for me.

 

btw. Don't Ned & Paul always dive with Bill over at Dive St Vincent, though I guess they could have got fed up with the lack of rinse facilities and wandered over to Indigo. I know I will next time.

Brian,

Yes Ned and Paul are diving with Bill, but I popped in to Young Island to say 'Hi!' and to introduce myself! They are here with a very big REEF tour (2 weeks 50 divers). Bill has the boats for the big groups, I prefer small groups and intimate diving experiences.... ...plus I'm better looking than Bill! lol!

I saw this little fella whilst on a critter hunt (which included bat fish, porcelain crabs, frog fish etc....). It's really great when you find something that you haven't seen before... and this was special even by St. Vincent standards!

Stopped and watched it for quite a while, not scared, the worm just went about it's business... pretty cool.

Looking forward to diving with you the next time you re down this way.

No, for the Nemertinator...

Tubulanus rhabdotus (Nemertea), nothing specific known about feeding but probably a predator and scavenger. Perfect desription of its head movement. However, skin is fully ciliated but covered in mucus that it probably makes sticky when handled. What is location of find please? Any data on size? Thanks.

Location: St. Vincent, leeward coast, dive site 'Over There'

Animal size about the same as a length / thickness of angel hair pasta when animal is 'extended'.

Depth seen approx 10 metres / 30 feet.

Hope this helps.

Is this a very rare worm? What is its range? Very curious to find out more info too!

Brian,

 

Yes Ned and Paul are diving with Bill, but I popped in to Young Island to say 'Hi!' and to introduce myself! They are here with a very big REEF tour (2 weeks 50 divers). Bill has the boats for the big groups, I prefer small groups and intimate diving experiences.... ...plus I'm better looking than Bill! lol!

Wow 50 divers, that's going to be crowded on Bill's boats.

Being better looking than Bill is not saying much, LOL! but if you're Kay then you are definitely much better looking and probably a lot less grouchy too.

Yes, see you next time we are there. Any sign of the new airport yet?

Brian,

 

Yes Ned and Paul are diving with Bill, but I popped in to Young Island to say 'Hi!' and to introduce myself! They are here with a very big REEF tour (2 weeks 50 divers). Bill has the boats for the big groups, I prefer small groups and intimate diving experiences.... ...plus I'm better looking than Bill! lol!

 

I saw this little fella whilst on a critter hunt (which included bat fish, porcelain crabs, frog fish etc....). It's really great when you find something that you haven't seen before... and this was special even by St. Vincent standards!

 

Stopped and watched it for quite a while, not scared, the worm just went about it's business... pretty cool.

 

Looking forward to diving with you the next time you re down this way.

Location: St. Vincent, leeward coast, dive site 'Over There'

 

Animal size about the same as a length / thickness of angel hair pasta when animal is 'extended'.

 

Depth seen approx 10 metres / 30 feet.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Is this a very rare worm? What is its range? Very curious to find out more info too!

As a group, we've done about a thousand dives with Bill Tewes, always with good service. We're going back again right after Paul and Ned leave. Between dives, Bill has always provided us with adequate rinse tanks on the boat. At the end of the day we've always soaked our camera gear at our rental units in $5 tubs purchased in town.

"Is this a very rare worm? What is its range? Very curious to find out more info too!"

It's certainly a rare find around Caribbean islands. We have photos only from Bonaire. This is one of the creatures we'll be including in the Creatures DVD that we're now preparing in collaboration with Paul and Ned.

"Location: St. Vincent, leeward coast, dive site 'Over There' "

The first time we went to St. Vincent we had Bill take us to dive sites that he considered "ugly", and therefore usually never took people to and had never really explored. We all had a fantastic time discovering new sites and lots of new fish and creatures. One morning as we left harbor and motored north along the coast he asked the usual question: "Where to today?". I pointed to a spot we hadn't tried yet and said "How about over there?". It was a very productive dive, and a new dive site for Bill --- "Over There".

Les Wilk

ReefNet Inc.

www.reefnet.ca

As a group, we've done about a thousand dives with Bill Tewes, always with good service. We're going back again right after Paul and Ned leave. Between dives, Bill has always provided us with adequate rinse tanks on the boat. At the end of the day we've always soaked our camera gear at our rental units in $5 tubs purchased in town.

 

"Is this a very rare worm? What is its range? Very curious to find out more info too!"

 

It's certainly a rare find around Caribbean islands. We have photos only from Bonaire. This is one of the creatures we'll be including in the Creatures DVD that we're now preparing in collaboration with Paul and Ned.

 

"Location: St. Vincent, leeward coast, dive site 'Over There' "

 

The first time we went to St. Vincent we had Bill take us to dive sites that he considered "ugly", and therefore usually never took people to and had never really explored. We all had a fantastic time discovering new sites and lots of new fish and creatures. One morning as we left harbor and motored north along the coast he asked the usual question: "Where to today?". I pointed to a spot we hadn't tried yet and said "How about over there?". It was a very productive dive, and a new dive site for Bill --- "Over There".

 

Les Wilk

ReefNet Inc.

www.reefnet.ca

Les,

Hope that we can get a chance to finally meet in person, and that you'll join me for a dive... I know that you will be diving with Bill, but I'd love an opportunity to show you some of the sites that I dive.... a new one is 'Well I Never...!' as we found Bat Fish, Frog Fish, Leech Headshied Slugs plus lots more stuff not in the books.... we were going to call it '$15 a Gallon' as we were exploring sites a little closer to base considering that's what we are now paying for fuel in EC$! (Thats about US$6!)

Glad that you liked the worm, kicking myself for not taking a video too!

K

Wow 50 divers, that's going to be crowded on Bill's boats.

Being better looking than Bill is not saying much, LOL! but if you're Kay then you are definitely much better looking and probably a lot less grouchy too.

 

Yes, see you next time we are there. Any sign of the new airport yet?

The group will be spread 25 per week, great for the hotels here as we have had a pretty slow season....

Yes the ground breaking ceremony was last week, so by 2012 you should be able to get a direct flight to St. Vincent..... fingers crossed.

In the mean time LIAT have been working very hard to improve their service, and we also have flights via American Eagle to Canouan in the Grenadines, or theres charter flights from Barbados with SVG Air, Mustique Air, Grenadines Air and there are new flights from Antigua and St. Lucia with Carib Air..... plus direct flights once a day from Puerto Rico.... so we are not too hard to visit!

Les,

 

Hope that we can get a chance to finally meet in person, and that you'll join me for a dive... I know that you will be diving with Bill, but I'd love an opportunity to show you some of the sites that I dive.... a new one is 'Well I Never...!' as we found Bat Fish, Frog Fish, Leech Headshied Slugs plus lots more stuff not in the books.... we were going to call it '$15 a Gallon' as we were exploring sites a little closer to base considering that's what we are now paying for fuel in EC$! (Thats about US$6!)

 

Glad that you liked the worm, kicking myself for not taking a video too!

 

K

Hi K;

Thanks for the invitation, that would be nice.

We explored a lot of the west coast but there are many sites we never got to (like some of yours) and probably dozens more that are still untouched. That's why I like St. Vincent --- it's one of the few places left where you can still count on surprises.

Les

If you want surprises just take a underwater microscope with you. I guarantee you'll find thousands of critters you've never seen before!

Location: St. Vincent, leeward coast, dive site 'Over There'

 

Animal size about the same as a length / thickness of angel hair pasta when animal is 'extended'.

 

Depth seen approx 10 metres / 30 feet.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Is this a very rare worm? What is its range? Very curious to find out more info too!

Thanks for additional information. No, it's not very rare; but rarely seen in nature. It and most other nemerteans can squeeze into holes and crevices much smaller than their "resting" diameter, and they do and seem to spend most of their time hidden but come out to forage or when their habitat is disturbed. So, I collect them mostly by placing rubble in a tank or tub and waiting for them to crawl out. Tubulanus rhabdotus is common in tidal and shallow reef rubble in South Florida between Ft. Pierce and Miami and has been reported from Brazil, but I've only ever found one along the Belize reef in many weeks of intensive collecting over a lot of years. That's a big geographic gap. However, I think the one in Brazil may not be the same species as in Florida. The St Vincent worm is a very good match for the Florida worm, so I am glad to know of it's record.

Best,

--Jon