Imported Killer

Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium's slow-growing and precious corals have been under assault. Each day people would return to their award-winning coral display, only to see still more corals having been torn asunder. Each loss was a heavy blow. It wasn't until they decided to break the display up that they discovered the culprit: a four-foot-long giant reef worm.

These reef worms come equipped with jaws that allow them to munch through corals, and thousands of bristles capable of delivering a toxin that can cause permanent numbness.




















This giant reef worm, seen above, now resides in his own dedicated aquarium, well away from the corals he once terrorized. No one knows exactly how he got into the aquarium, though the best bet is that he was imported as a juvenile by accident in a new batch of live rock.

As many saltwater aquarists know, you can never be sure what you're going to get when you bring some new live rock or live sand into your tank. You just might get a killer.

Thanks for the article, Vincent and Captain Geek.