This was news from thee newscast here (Tagesschau) so the article is only in German but here my favourite parts:
- for a long time the only reason they knew the worm existed were the traces it left on the corals it ate, no one ever saw it
- until one day they found a one point five metre long part of the worm that was still wiggling
- only the part was missing the head, and the corals continued to be eaten, so apparently the worm just got rid of its bum and continued on like normal
- DNA tests of the bum could not determine its species, only that it is in some way related to the bobbit worm (also called eunice aphroditois), so this might be an entirely new species
- the worm is called 'Phantom'
- they installed cameras for four days, but didn't manage to capture the worm, after removing the cameras the worm continued eating the corals - right where the cameras had been
- the guy who positioned the camera said to that 'Lots of material, sadly extremly little worm, as in neither a long nor the short worm. We haven't seen anything.'
- now they have installed a camera again and a popular german news channel is streaming the whole night so that everyone can search for Phantom:
🪱 Livestream: Nachts im Aquarium – auf der Suche nach einem Phantom: Seit rund zehn Jahren treibt ein rätselhafter Borstenwurm im Meerwasser
