Some kinda worm...

[MOturkE]

Hey all you entemologists-
I saw a worm in a Missouri lake and I'd never seen one like it before, wondered if anyone here knows what kind it is. I'll describe it as best I can and we'll see...
It was about 1/4 inch round, 2 inches long, tapered at both ends. The body was clear with white tubes inside running length-wise and brown bands width-wise along the body at 1/8th inch spacing. The internal tubes, about 5 of them, seemed to move in a crawling action inside the body when it swam.
It was swimming on the surface by bending and straightening its tail end to either side. It swam pretty well so I'm sure it was a water-dweller. It was swimming in about 4-6 inches of water near the shore, until I pitched it out a little way to see how soon a fish would eat it. It lasted about 2 min. and then, *shloop* - gone!
Sound like anything any of you've seen?


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There's almost nothin' wrong with the first lie, it's the weight of all the others holdin' it up that gets ya'! - Tim

was it a midge larva? its hard to picture it, and im no entomologist, but my guess would be a mosquito larva or other sort of midge larva.

checkout [url=http://troutnut.com:28007]troutnut.com[/url:28007] . its a good site (from an FAOL member) with loads of information and really good pics of water insects in all stages of developement, both out of and in the water.

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Everyone dies. Only the lucky ever truly Live. Take your time.

Chris-Bishop, CA, USA

[MOturkE]

It'd be an awfully large mosquito, and it was no midge. Look at the return key on your keyboard... It was that long. I've searched the web and didn't find anything like it. It'd be my luck it was some very rare, lost species worth over a billion $$$, and I threw it to the fishies...

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There's almost nothin' wrong with the first lie, it's the weight of all the others holdin' it up that gets ya'! - Tim

[Brad Williamson]

If you call insect larvae worms like many folks do, I'll hazard a guess. When I was taking fisheries classes back in the 70's we'd often find crane fly larvae at this time of the year. They are the right size and fit your description.

Here are a couple of links that include images of crane fly larvae:
[url=http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/crane_fly.htm:6b928]http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/crane_fly.htm[/url:6b928] [url=http://www.fishpondinfo.com/insect2.htm:6b928]http://www.fishpondinfo.com/insect2.htm[/url:6b928]

Also, there are some horsefly larvae that are aquatic and about the size you describe. Here's a link with a good image. Look for the image labeled Tabanidae.
[url=http://www.usask.ca/biology/skabugs/flies/miscdip.html:6b928]http://www.usask.ca/biology/skabugs/flies/miscdip.html[/url:6b928]

If you are refering to the different aquatic worms then we have a problem. I've worked with a number of aquatic worms but not any that match your description Leeches come the closest. Most aquatic worms are very thin in the lengths that you describe.

However, one might come close: Eiseniella--here's an image from MA. [url=http://popgen0146uns50.unimaas.nl/~jlindsey/commanster/Invertebrates/Eiseniella.tetraedra.html:6b928]http://popgen0146uns50.unimaas.nl/~jlindsey/commanster/Invertebrates/Eiseniella.tetraedra.html[/url:6b928]

Brad Williamson

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"...because it is not fly fishing if you are not looking for answers to questions."

Norman Maclean--A River Runs Through It.

[MOturkE]

Brad,
Thanks for the info, but it wasn't one of the ones listed. I may have to sketch the monster and ask the Conservation Dept. They're usually pretty good at these things. I'll definitely keep an eye out for another one, though. I'd love to get an animation of it to show here.


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There's almost nothin' wrong with the first lie, it's the weight of all the others holdin' it up that gets ya'! - Tim