New life form in sewers?

reply to post by DaMod


DaMod,
1 What you see here are thousands of individual worms sticking together covered in slime and bacteria. It LOOKS like 1 organisme because when they retract they do it all together at once. Vibration or light triggers this retraction. Normaly these Tubifex worms (not tube worms) are half buried in sediment and moving. But because of lack of settelement in the sewage, they use each other to cling (so they wont flush away by current and stay by the food source)
2 The slimy tentacles your see are individual worms (or a few worms stick together by the slime/bacteria film thats covering this colony)
3 Again, by lack of sediment they use each other for substrate to stay on the spot.

I'm a science illustrator and although I have seen some very strange creatures as many, watching science programming, this is quite odd.

Firstly, with keen observation and absorbing the links from others to Bryozoans or worm masses, I do not see the resemblance either visually or in observed nature unless there has ben a profound mutation of these organisms.

Observations:

These creatures have a unified nervous system. It's hard to fake these observed twitches and contractions.

The striated tissue that radiates from the main mass look like tissue specialized for anchoring the main mass and possibly locomotion. That they also contract independently from the main mass means that they are a different tissue and have a different functional roll in the organisms body.

There seems to be a couple types of tissue, and possibly sensory organs. This means it is a fairly complex organism.

The color of the tissue, if we can extrapolate from the very inaccurate video pallet, seems to be reddish or fleshy like higher lifeforms. Bryozoans have no such coloration's. This means possibly a circulatory system with a blood or oxygenating component. Hemoglobin? We would need to observe in laboratory conditions.

I am not sure there is a photo sensitivity as I observed no change in light to elicit the reactions. More likely a proximity touch response to the camera tractor, water perturbation or otherwise.

The "eyes" observed by some folks close scrutiny might not be eyes in the optical sense, but sensory organs of some sort. If two only, this could lend itself to a stereoscopic ability to sense in whatever olfactory, frequency of sound, heat or pheromones or whatever in 3 dimensional perception. These could be organs sensitive to infrared or other non-light effects in any case.

It/they do not seem to have a mouth or orifice we can yet observe. There does seem to be a central area to the mass that could open only when a suitable organism is within proximity. The camera and tractor is cold so might not have enough heat or the right "scent" to elicit a feeding response.

The viscus coating, as in other organisms from insect to plant or higher forms of life, could be many things. the most logical is a protective layer like fish have. It could be mucous secreted by specialized pores to resist water and waterborne bacteria and chemical components. It could also double as protection and might have bio-toxins or could even be a bacteria symbiotic partnering. This could be an altogether other form supplementing a protective nature that are like the bacteria in our own stomach and intestinal tract. Complimenting the creatures functions for anything from food absorption from bacteria it my eat, or stinging toxins like jellyfish and certain other creatures. It could even be like spider toxins that dissolve tissue for absorbing nutrients.

There does seem to be a relationship with the water. You will notice the striated slimy tentacle like structures seem to extend into the water in the second subject video, and seem to be just hanging into the water being moved by currents. It would need water to supplement its body tissue. It might also be fishing for small water insects, bacteria or other such food sources.

Until this is observed in this habitat much more thoroughly or in laboratory conditions we can only speculate the nature of this organism.

My first impressions where the pods in Alien movies. When the pod first opens, the slimy bulbous mass inside looks similar. But that is simply a visual association.

This will be very interesting to find out about if already known but modified by environment not it's own. But maybe it is from "elsewhere".

In any case there will have to be an original organism it is from. These things do not just spontaneously evolve. Such takes millions of years of evolution.

I'll be watching, and gagging.

ZG

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


Good lord. I want to know what it is. Its freaking me out!

In my opinion, all explanations posted are no where near what we see in this video. But, I'm no expert Biologist.

I don't think that's necessarily any sort of new life form. We haven't yet discovered all the existing life forms. It makes sense that down in the sewers there would be stuff that thrives there, that we don't normally see. How many of us hang around in sewers (note: I said *sewer*, not gutter).

Still, it's kind of fun to think about what those things might do - maybe they'll evolve into something more interesting...

What is the thing in the water connected to the slime ball. It looks like an arm or leg or neck. You can see it at the very beginning of the video on the first creature and then again when the camera pans down on the second creature. It might be worms but it sure doesn't look the same as the tubiflex things, but what do I know.

Personally, I am still waiting for evidence (photographic or otherwise) of these from "experts" saying what this is or isn't.

I find that lone fact, no other evidence except educated guesses, the biggest reason that this is something new.

I am sorry, but there has not been one video or picture referenced in this entire thread that looks like this "entity".

As has been said before... we lose species to extinction daily on this planet, what makes everyone so sure we don't gain a new one at the same rate?

I really feel this is a true cryptid that will only be identified by hands on analysis, and not mere speculation and best guesses.

My first question is what does it taste like? I mean, it took one brave man to eat the first raw oyster, but thank goodness he did cause I love 'em! I bet this thing tastes like a cross between sucking the heads out of a crayfish, oysters and sushi. I'm getting pretty hungry.

If this is cgi, it was done professionally I can tell you that much.

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


I am not a worm expert. And also I am a bit surprised that I cannot find a usefull video on the internet of a cluster of Tubifex thats retracting the way you see on the Live leak video.
Only submersed
Its just that I have seen this before many many times when transportating and selling fresh live Tubifex in plastic bags for the aquarium industry. Never ever tought of taping it!

But you know thats what I like about ATS and I would not want it any other way. You need evidence!

Looked at the video a couple more times.. and Id like to know what the hell the little purple/black thing is at the bottom of the first one .. thought it was just a random piece of stuff at first, but it looks like its moving at the same time as the er, 'lump'.



Bit of a crap screenshot I took there, but you see what I mean!

Also, are those worm things known for being sensitive to heat/light? The one's the video someone posted dont seem too fussed about being in it..

[edit on 1-7-2009 by Bluebelle]

reply to post by IgnoreTheFacts


My entire department saw me watch the video and were immediately curious. They came over and thought I was weird for eating my sandwich while watching the video for a fourth time. Its okay. I have a strong stomach.

Official news release:

Raleigh 'sewer creature' surprises city officials

Ed Buchan, environmental coordinator at the Raleigh Public Utilities Department, said staff biologists have confirmed that the "creature" is actually a colony of tubifex worms. The colonies attach themselves to roots that gradually work themselves into weak points in the pipes.

"They seem to respond to the light from the camera," Buchan said. "That light is pretty hot."

[edit on 1-7-2009 by guppy]

[edit on 1-7-2009 by guppy]

[edit on 1-7-2009 by guppy]

Originally posted by ListenD
I'd say bryozoan. Pectinatella magnifica looks strikingly similar to the "blob" in question.[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f15851a6641c.jpg[/atsimg]source

Did anyone else read this?
No Tubifex but tousands of bryozoan???
www.newsobserver.com...

Actually, the sewer monster is made up of thousands of tiny organisms called bryozoans, or moss animacules, said N.C. State University biologist Thomas Kwak. Invertebrates, they bunch together in colonies and feed with tiny tentacles.

This makes it even more mysterious...

[edit on 1-7-2009 by Haunebu]

[edit on 1-7-2009 by Haunebu]

Found this article that explains what the creature as tubifex worms.

"They're a colony of tubifex worms," said Senior Project Engineer Mark Senior. "We've seen them before in sewer systems."

Article here

It doesn't look like a single creature to me. This could be a mass of infant creatures like eel's or maybe a light reactive mold or fungus. I seem to remember reading about new types of data storage being developed from photo reactive slime.

Still it looks very interesting

[edit on 1-7-2009 by VitalOverdose]

damn that is sick n creepy looking...My first thought, was damn! Its the blob!!! Then i had thuoght it looked like one of the eggs, from the movie ALIEN lol. MY third thought..was from Grindhouse..the zombie one with bruce willis. Terrance Qantino(canrt spell or pronounce his name sorry) turnsi nto one of those zombie, face slides off, leans over and throws up his stomach with viens and intestines laching out form it when it hit the floor

I just find that the Tubiflex worms look nothing like what was seen in that video. I have been looking through videos of worms and stuff, and I havent seen anything quite like the video.

Im no expert so......

reply to post by Le Colonel


Even tho I posted the official response from the sewer company saying their colonies of Tubifex worms. I don't agree with Buchan's explanation. These creatures don't look anything like Tubifex worms.

My money is the sewer company's official word must be a coverup. Imagine the uproar from the public that new life is brewing in their sewers. And how can you be surprised new life is brewing in our sewers?

reply to post by Le Colonel


Thats because all the videos on the internet are Tubifex filmed under water and with sediment. Tubifex above water (stil humid tough) are behaving different, like seen in the sewage video: not moving (except when triggered so they retract) clinging together in slime and bacteria film.

I dont know. The "Tubiflex" Worms seems like a stretch to me. It was obviously something unknown. Why bother to cover it up though. Because officials dont want the public knowing about the Blue. It's an infestation. Run everybody Run!!!

Though I digress, we dont know what they are, and in a world where we cannot trust our "Elected" officials, Ill take that with a grain of Salt.

I'm just going to start building my Armored Shrike so I can take on these Blue

On tubiflex, and bryozoans:

I can't seem to find any images of bryozoans that look remotely like this sewer thing. Has anyone else seen any?

The tubiflex images/videos.... the worms are too large. I don't think it can be these.

At the same time, I can certainly make out individual worms in the sewer video.
I think this just hasn't been accurately classified yet.
I believe it to be a smaller species of worms acting as one, in similar ways to the tubiflex worms.
They're so small they're almost see through, and i think that is what is causing the confusion of this being a single entity.

Originally posted by Tartarspoon
Found this article that explains what the creature as tubifex worms.

"They're a colony of tubifex worms," said Senior Project Engineer Mark Senior. "We've seen them before in sewer systems."

Article here

Thanks for the link and I agree with the guy who says the size can be deceiving. It looks like it was filmed in someone's mouth or down someone's throat. However, a lot of people think these things are monster like.

Really though, they're just cute little buggers.