⌛ marine life ID- are you the only site?

I'm new, have been looking for a site or forum dedicated to "fish watching", but have come up empty. You seem the only one, but hoping that many species are similar, I'll post.
My question is this:
I was recently snorkeling in the Florida Keys (Key Largo) and while exiting in very shallow water I saw what appeared to be a tiny white caterpillar-type worm, perhaps 4mm long. I picked it up and examined it and it buckled up looking very like a shrimp, but it had way more legs. It was a feathery creature and quite active, little red dots over its back. Evenually I let it go after taking 3 photos with a disposible underwater camera. The photos are blurry as there's no macro, but if anyone has an idea what this little worm-shrimp is, I could email what pictures I do have. Thanks!

 

HI Teahouse,
it's quite hard to make any suggestions without a picture. sorry to say that I am not 100% familiar with the UW-creatures in the florida keys, my first thought would be a kind of fire-worm, but this is something what you usually feel stinging right away. The red dots also could be an indicator that the creature is only pretending of being dangerous.

cheers

Rhody

 

I think you may be right. I thought after handling it a moment or two I might have felt a slight stinging, so I dropped it. It was very small.
There are fireworms in the Caribbean, which this is the northern part of.
I've attached the only pictures I have, I tried to sharpen them via computer, and this is the best I can do, not very clear I'm afraid. This is the worm floating down from my hand. It had been crawling on the bottom.
Thanks, Evelyn

 

Hi Evelyn,
now I am almost sure about the fire-worm, it looks quite similar to those on our housereef.
I am actually happy that my suggestion was right
feel free for all posts and questions.... Great that our little fish-section becomes international....
thank you and cheers

Rhoody