Is that a worm in your coral or are you just happy to see me?

[deckeda]

'We also discovered that he is covered with thousands of bristles which are capable of inflicting a sting resulting in permanent numbness.'

Methinks the aquarium used to have an employee named Barry, who is no longer capable of fully performing his job duties.

So they identified it as a polychaete worm. From the Wikipedia page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychaete_worm there's a link I couldn't resist for "bone-eating snot flower" (an Osedax.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osedax

Not applicable to "Barry" but the description of the Osedax says this: (check out the last line)

Lacking stomach and mouth, Osedax rely on symbiotic species of bacteria to digest whale fat and oils and release nutrients that they can absorb. Osedax have colorful feathery plumes that act as gills, and unusual root-like structures that absorb nutrients. Between 50 and 100 microscopic dwarf males live inside a single female, and never develop past the larval stage.