Critter with very long tentacles

I've seen lots of these. They have extremely long tentacles that retract quickly if disturbed. Sometimes the tentacles are white. In this case (form the Similan Islands) they are banded with purple. Can anyone help with an ID?

Worm, if it can give you a direction

tried that aleady autopsea thanks, but didn't really get me anywhere

A type of sea cucumber?

I've seen lots of these. They have extremely long tentacles that retract quickly if disturbed. Sometimes the tentacles are white. In this case (form the Similan Islands) they are banded with purple. Can anyone help with an ID?

They are called spaghetti worms, and are polychaete worms. The long tentacles are attached to a burrowed worm. As far as I know they are deposit feeders.

Regards

Bent C

Yep Terrebilid aka spagetti worm.

Cheers

James

damn an ID i knew .. and i was beaten to it !

Yes, it's an terebellid. I know the UW guide books have names attached to pictures of the feeding tentacles but there's no way to id these past family on tentacles alone. Some of the characters necessary for id need to be seen under a microscope.

Thanks everyone!