Photo of Anchor Worm.....yikes

[Lady Hobbs]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99372947@N00/426482673/

Ran across this today. I had NO idea these things looked like this! Can this be true? It looks more like a monster than a worm.

[ScottishFish]

Yup pretty gruesome, The have jars upon jars of different internal and external worms at my zoology museum at university, can put you off your lunch

[Lady Hobbs]

This was a shocker! I thought I would find a worm not some overgrown scoprion or whatever it is that looks like this. When fish have an anchor, you see a white thread sticking out of them. I thought it was the tail but where does this thing have that? Gruesome!

[ScottishFish]

Younger juvenile worms often look extremely different to the final adult form, they alwas remind me of the film 'Alien' this little wormy thing bursts out, just a head, teeth and tail, few meals later it has several appendages, more teeth and a growing appetite

[mr mittag]

gnarly just gnarly

[escamosa]

What a charming little critter! Looks like something that Ripley should be shooting!

[madagascariensis]

Sorry to burst the bubble but if you Look closely at the Name Tag
The creature does not seem to be an actual anchor worm

True anchor worms are from the genus Lernaea while this ugly guy is labeled
Chaetopterus vario-something I can't read.

But definitely hideous no Matter what. I would not want to see one alive.

[AVN]

You should check out some of those tongue eating copepods that fish have to deal with. :)

[Lady Hobbs]

Here's what we would find on our fish.