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So anyone know what this might be?? There were a few at the bottom of Fountain Pit. They were moving...slowly but moving.


Fountain Pit 05 by Sunguramy, on Flickr

And a hand for scale =)

Fountain Pit 06 by Sunguramy, on Flickr

WTF??

First critter that came to mind was it being a Whip Worm, but if so they are the biggest ones I've seen. 2-3 inches is usually their max, I think.

Horsehair worm! I'm guessing- but I've seen them inside and outside of caves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematomorpha

I saw a long white worm just like that a couple of weeks ago in a TN cave. Wished I'd had a camera. It was near the entrance.

Oh cool beans! yeah horsehair seems to fit. if straight they were probably 12-14 inches long or so which is on the small side according to wiki page you linked but yeah, they were only about 1mm diameter.

I've seen horsehair worms a couple times but the ones I encountered were either very dark brown or black as were the examples I found on the web. I wonder if these could be troglobytic?

They are definitely pure white although the one I saw was in the daylight zone of an entrance pit.

These were in the daylight zone of Fountain Pit. When crawling directly under one, all I could think about is their visual similarity to the Guinea Worm, and it weirded me out a bit. I knew it was not one, but it was a hard feeling to shake.

Marduke wrote:These were in the daylight zone of Fountain Pit. When crawling directly under one, all I could think about is their visual similarity to the Guinea Worm, and it weirded me out a bit. I knew it was not one, but it was a hard feeling to shake.

Dang that thing does look just like a Guinea worm. I hope it isn't. Maybe I should read up on those things some more.

Stock market worm displays a loss...

Marduke wrote:These were in the daylight zone of Fountain Pit. When crawling directly under one, all I could think about is their visual similarity to the Guinea Worm, and it weirded me out a bit. I knew it was not one, but it was a hard feeling to shake.

You didn't see the two back behind where the "waterfall" would have been? I saw two back there as well. I guess there is prolly a bit of light back there still though, they weren't super far into the crack. But they weren't out where the sun falls down into the pit like the others.

Also eww, should not google "Guinea Worm" before bed. Eww eww eww.

My first reaction was Gordian worm of some sort. I've seen them dark brown and light tan but not white. Troglobitic wold not surprise me given their hosts. Also the adults prefer being in a stream or someplace else very very wet, like a pool so seeing one on a wall is strange. As always in cave biology, could be something new.

If it's new, does that mean I get to name it 'cause I have the first photos of it? If so can I call it Slinky? 'Cause it reminds me of slinkies.

Perhaps a biologist could get cave permits all over the country in an attempt to find these long white worms in caves.