Drepanogigas albolineatus "I'm pretty excited about this worm because it was previously known from only a single specimen off Naples, Italy, described in 1895 and accompanied by a superb color lithograph. I got a picture a year ago that constituted the second record. Yours makes three. If it were not for the really distinctive pattern and relatively large size I would doubt the ID, but this seems unmistakable." "Even the data on your find are really useful because we know very little about this particular group of nemerteans. This belongs to a nemertean group called Reptantia, which has about 40 known species, of which about 20 were described from indo-pacific. My experience has been that most seem to be associated with surface habitats of reef rubble on sand flats. Most of the few I have encountered can swim really well; they tighten up and get even flatter and swim like a larval eel. These reptantic nemerteans are almost certainly predators and they have the best-developed eyes among nemerteans, including a lens structure. So, they may even be visual predators. We have no idea what this group eats. Its closest relatives tend to have pretty narrow diets specializing on crustaceans or annelids, often taking on prey as large or larger than themselves." Dr. Jon L. Norenburg Invertebrate Zoology Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History nemertes.si.edu