the Picture is not clear if you have another pictures it will be more helpful
It is impossible to identify. During fixation the cuticle detached from the epidermis which causes bright material surrounding the anterior three quaters of the animal. Such detachment is often caused by keeping the animal in a medium with lower osmolarity For proper fixation use 7% formalin and fix the animals directly after removal from the sediement.
Yes, Thomas is right.
It may be a Spaghetti Worm (Phylum: Annelida Class: Polychaeta Order: Terebellida). Is it collected from rocky-muddy intertidal habitat?
Also, avoid staining with too much Bengal rose. A little bit is useful to sort specimens from sediment samples, but too much will disguise important characters for the identification.
Is that a ventral or a dorsal view of the specimen? I would say Paraonidae or Spionidae, maybe.
Dear Thomas
I dont think the detached epidermis caused bright material surrounding the anterior three quarters of the animal but it was a membranous flap surrounding anterior part
Although I have not done polychaete taxonomy in the last several years, I cannot recall a speciman with a membranous flap that promanent. But all of my work was on the west coast of the U.S., primarily Puget Sound, Washington. The lack of identifiable features in the photograph makes identification nearly impossible. Looking at the general morphology I tend to agree with Ascensao, it looks more like a Paraonid or Spionid.
My suggestion would be to mount the specimen on a microscope slide and take a picture of the chaetae. Most polychaetes have very characteristic chaetae that help identifying them at least to family level
I totally agreed with Michael's opinion. It will be the useful way to identifying this one I guess. The picture has low resolution to identify.
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