Nekton bristleworm?

CryptoNautical · Jun 8, 2023

It’s late at night and I was observing the night life on the reef, and all of a sudden this red like worm came swimming up to my light. I’ve never seen this particular creature before but it resembles a bristle worm but I’ve never seen them swim, and holy cow does this thing swim fast. Also has a pair of what appear to be basic eyes. So I’m wondering if anyone else has any ideas of what this creature could be?

CryptoNautical · Jun 8, 2023

I put said creature under my microscope after I put it in the freezer for 5 minutes. I do apologize but the cells immediately started to leak from the organism once under the slide. This is at a power of 40.

Here we have the hind section. There is a hemorrhage on the left side.

This is the mid section. There’s seems to be a central gut with bristles for locomotion.

And the head of the organism. Very peculiar. Please let me know what you think.

AScientificReefer · Jun 8, 2023

Thats insane, seeing creatures under a microscope is amazing and that ones pretty odd.
I wouldve guessed the bristles were mostly straight holding form like the name describes (if it even is some type of bristleworm) or youd imagine from bristles. But they curl up and get all funky.