The Secret of Pepiño’s Cave
Originally ordered by previous Master of the BSCD, Dr. Jose “Pepiño” Quintans, the large salt water tank on the third floor has been a set piece for student’s day to day on the 3rd floor. Since April 2009, “A Cova de Pepiño” or Pepiño’s Cave - as is lettered above the tank, has added some entertainment to breaks from lecture, studying, or lab work for students of the BSLC. Little did we know, a horror was hiding in the shadows of our happy little tank.
On Tuesday, April 16, our technician Jason and his colleague discovered a worm - a nightmarish specimen measuring almost 4 feet in length - while cleaning the gravel substrate. For nearly 15 years, a Polychaeta - sometimes called a Bristle or Bobbit worm, fed and grew while hiding underneath the pebbles. What had likely started out as a plankton-like larva in the live rock had hid unknown and undisturbed for more than a decade - adding segments as it fed off food that fell into the substrate and potentially some shrimp that mysteriously disappeared a few years ago.
Recently (before this terrifying discovery), our friends and partners at Old Town Aquarium, the company that maintains the tank, recommended a refresh. When the tank was first installed, the “live rock” (rock pulled from a salt water environment, that contains varied bacteria, sponges, micro-algae, and other organisms that may support coral health) took up a majority of the tank but it also provided hiding places for the fish and a healthy anchor for the coral. After 15 years, this “live rock” had essentially expired - it no longer provided the same benefits to the coral and overall looked a little faded and dull.
Our maintenance technicians from Old Town Aquarium conferred with BSCD administrators about refreshing the tank removing the old “live rock”, replacing it with new structures, and cycling the water. With the administration’s blessing, Old Town Aquarium got to work on the tank’s facelift but work came to a stop when they made the aforementioned shocking discovery part way through the planned maintenance.
The aquarium technicians turned the captured worm over to Dr. Oscar Pineda-Catalan, an associate senior instructional professor in the BSCD, who preserved this scolopendrphobic monster in alcohol, and provided the pictures that you might wish you could forget you’d seen.
After we were assured that there were no other stowaways, the technicians moved ahead with the tank refresh. The process started with moving the coral off the rock structure, removing the old “live rock”. After vacuuming the waste and debris out of the gravel substrate (this is the part where the worm was discovered), 50% of the salt water in the tank was cycled. Finally a new reef structure made from CaribSea LifeRock could be installed and freshly mixed saltwater would fill the tank back to the top.
Hopefully with this refresh, our finned friends will be a bit happier with new waters to swim and a little more room to move. We hope to enlist help from the students this summer to give each fish a name! Stay tuned to find out ways to participate.
