Guernsey commercial fisherman Clive Brown brought me a bundle of 15 mm diameter rope that he found at sea suspended from a float.  He removed the float and brought me the wound up rope, which was encrusted with bryozoans and had mussels and scallops attached to it.  I unwound the rope and found four of these scaleworms, family aphroditidae, living inside the rope windings.  

Clive brought me the rope on February 4, 2008.  I unravelled it and took photographs that afternoon of the species living inside the rope with a Canon A640 digital camera with an off-camera epoque flash using white reflectors over a black background.
File No. 040208 2865
©RLLord
fishinfo@guernsey.net
scaleworm from rope CB 040208 2842 smg
scaleworm from rope CB 040208 2869 smg
scaleworm from rope CB 040208 2867 smg
Recreational angler Andy Marquis who owns the Fishing Guernsey website ( http://www.fishing-guernsey.co.uk/ ) was digging for bait in Belle Greve Bay, Guernsey on February 17, 2007.  He kindly gave me a number of polychaetes and sipunculids to photograph.  This image shows the head of a catworm, Nephtys sp. (either Nephtys caeca or Nephtys hombergi)  that he gave me.
File No. 170207 3-879 
©RLLord
fishinfo@guernsey.net
This beautiful scaleworm, Alentia gelatinosa, turned up in one of Clive Brown's crab pots in about 50 fathoms of water off the south coast of Guernsey.  The same species is found also on the Guernsey shore under boulders and cobbles and in tide pools.  It swims quickly in a slinky manner undulating its body from side to side.  It is the largest scaleworm found on the Guernsey shore reaching a length of 6 to 7 cm.  It is not abundant but it is seen regularly. The scales or elytra overlap and cover the dorsal surface of the body.  They are easily shed if the animal is handled.  The worm has a soft gelatinous appearance.  It can be brown or grey.  

It does not appear in the Collins Pocket Guide Sea Shore of Britain & Northern Europe by Peter Hayward, Tony Nelson-Smith and Chris Shields.  I identified this species from a French sea shore guide.  

Clive Brown gave this scaleworm for me to photograph on 16 April, 2003.
File No. 160403 12-657 
©RLLord
fishinfo@guernsey.net
This scaleworm with 15 pairs of scales (elytra) along the dorsal surface was unearthed from damp sand by bait digger Sam Robins on the 20th March 2007.  This scaleworm was buried in the beach in Belle Greve Bay on Guernsey's east coast.
File No. BG 200307 26-882
©RLLord 
fishinfo@guernsey.net
This red errant polychaete was about 7 or 8 cm long. I found it in Belle Greve Bay on Guernsey's east coast on April 17, 2007. It was identified as Lysidice ninetta in the family eunicidae by Dr. Mary E. Petersen of the Darling Marine Center in Maine, USA; Dr. Daniela Iraci Sareri, University of Catania, Italy; Dr. Daniel Martin, Director, Centre d'Estudis Avancats de Blanes (CSIC), Spain; Guillermo Ruiz Cancino, Mexico; Dr. Salma Shalla based in the Isle of Man, UK; and Joana Zanol based in Washington, D.C., USA. 

I contacted the polychaete researchers in April 2007 through the annelid email list -  http://www.annelida.net/

Dr. Mary E. Petersen wrote "Lysidice ninetta appears to be the only UK eunicid with three antennae, no dorsal cirri on the apodous segment and the color pattern shown. Both the reddish anterior segments with fine white spots and the pale (white?) ring on chaetiger 2 should be diagnostic."

Dr. Daniela Iraci Sareri wrote "Lysidice collaris and L. margaritacea are warm-water species mainly recorded in Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea (lessepsian migrants) with the second less frequent than the other.  Lysidice ninetta is easy distinguishable from Lysidice collaris because it is characterized by a white bar on the fourth setiger."

File No. BG 170407 26-895
©RLLord
fishinfo@guernsey.net
This red errant polychaete was about 7 or 8 cm long. I found it in Belle Greve Bay on Guernsey's east coast on April 17, 2007. It was identified as Lysidice ninetta in the family eunicidae by Dr. Mary E. Petersen of the Darling Marine Center in Maine, USA; Dr. Daniela Iraci Sareri, University of Catania, Italy; Dr. Daniel Martin, Director, Centre d'Estudis Avancats de Blanes (CSIC), Spain; Guillermo Ruiz Cancino, Mexico; Dr. Salma Shalla based in the Isle of Man, UK; and Joana Zanol based in Washington, D.C., USA. 

I contacted the polychaete researchers in April 2007 through the annelid email list -http://www.annelida.net/

Dr. Mary E. Petersen wrote "Lysidice ninetta appears to be the only UK eunicid with three antennae, no dorsal cirri on the apodous segment and the color pattern shown. Both the reddish anterior segments with fine white spots and the pale (white?) ring on chaetiger 2 should be diagnostic."
File No. BG 170407 28-895
©RLLord
fishinfo@guernsey.net
Guernsey commercial fisherman Clive Brown brought me a bundle of 15 mm diameter rope that he found at sea suspended from a float. He removed the float and brought me the wound up rope, which was encrusted with bryozoans and had mussels and scallops attached to it. I unwound the rope and found four of these scaleworms, family aphroditidae, living inside the rope windings.

Clive brought me the rope on February 4, 2008. I unravelled it and took photographs that afternoon of the species living inside the rope with a Canon A640 digital camera with an off-camera epoque flash using white reflectors over a black background.
File No. 040208 2865
©RLLord
fishinfo@guernsey.net
Guernsey commercial fisherman Clive Brown brought me a bundle of 15 mm diameter rope that he found at sea suspended from a float.  He removed the float and brought me the wound up rope, which was encrusted with bryozoans and had mussels and scallops attached to it.  I unwound the rope and found four of these scaleworms, family aphroditidae, living inside the rope windings.  

Clive brought me the rope on February 4, 2008.  I unravelled it and took photographs that afternoon of the species living inside the rope with a Canon A640 digital camera with an off-camera epoque flash using white reflectors over a black background.
File No. 040208 2865
©RLLord
fishinfo@guernsey.net
Guernsey commercial fisherman Clive Brown brought me a bundle of 15 mm diameter rope that he found at sea suspended from a float. He removed the float and brought me the wound up rope, which was encrusted with bryozoans and had mussels and scallops attached to it. I unwound the rope and found four of these scaleworms, family aphroditidae, living inside the rope windings.

Clive brought me the rope on February 4, 2008. I unravelled it and took photographs that afternoon of the species living inside the rope with a Canon A640 digital camera with an off-camera epoque flash using white reflectors over a black background.
File No. 040208 2865
©RLLord
fishinfo@guernsey.net
See photo in original gallery.