Ripley! Acid spitting, bone dissolving 'alien' worms

You read right folks, straight from the pages of Hollywood comes a true alien in the from of an undersea worm that 'eats' whale bones.

The tiny Osedax worms live inside the carcasses of dead whales, but biologists were puzzled as to how they could break down bones - the worms have no mouths. University of San Diego scientists found that the worms had an enzyme that secretes a bone-melting acid - which is concentrated on the part that digs into their 'food'.

Try doing that without a mouth...or anus?

Siboglinidae or 'beard worms' are among the few known animals that, as adults, completely lack a mouth, gut and anus, and rely entirely on esymbiotic bacteria for their nutrition.

This part is easily the scariest of all

Only the females are equipped with this terrifying 'bio weapon' - the males are tiny, and each female is surrounded by a 'harem' of them inside a gelatinous tube.

I have no idea how to load this bad boy up with pics, so here's a link!

'Alien' on Earth

And then video

Vid of scary worm

Here ya go...



Nature never ceases to amaze us.

Cool, never heard of these before, they don't look much like worms, wonder why they fit that category?

Nature is great at recycling though isn't it, not much goes to waste.

reply to post by Toddlez


Awesome article, thanks for posting! No mouth and no anus, eh? Absorbing whale bones while a harem of males surrounds them in a "tube"? This is absolutely awesome. These worms are another example of how amazing the diversity of life is on this planet. S&F.

CJ

reply to post by Klassified


You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar!

Thank you very much for getting that link working for me

very awesome. yet creepy at the same time. so many weird and wonderful creatures in the world.

Awesome!!! Nice find thanks OP. As stated before, There is such a variety of life on this planet it is fascinating!! And we've only just scratched the surface...

Teye22