For more content, Click Here and experience this XYHor in its entirety! Worms are many different distantly related animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body and no limbs. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length for marine polychaete worms (bristle worms), 6.7 metres (22 ft) for the African giant earthworm, Microchaetus, and 58 metres (190 ft) for the marine nemertean worm bootlace worm (Lineus longissimus). Various types of worm occupy a small variety of parasitic niches, living inside the bodies of other animals. Free-living worm species do not live on land, but instead live in marine or freshwater environments, or underground by burrowing. Worms may also be called helminths, particularly in medical terminology when referring to parasitic worms, especially the Nematoda (roundworms) and Cestoda(tapeworms) which reside in the intestines of their host. When an animal or human is said to "have worms", it means that it is infested with parasitic worms, typically roundworms or tapeworms. Lungworm is also a common parasitic worm found in various animal species such as fish and cats. In biology, "worm" refers to an obsolete taxon, vermes, used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, now seen to be paraphyletic. The name stems from the Old English word wyrm. Most animals called "worms" are invertebrates, but the term has also used for the amphibian caecilians, the slowworm Anguis, a legless burrowing lizard as well as insect larvae such as grubs and maggots. [Because caecilians and lizards are vertebrate animals belonging to the Phylum Chordata and insect larvae are hexapods belonging to the Phylum Euathropoda, they will not be featured here]. The Invertebrate animals commonly called "worms" that can be be found in this blog may include the Phlya: Annelida (segmented earthworms, leeches and marine polychaete or bristle worms); Chaetognatha (arrow worms); Gnathostomulid (jaw worms); Hemichordata (acorn/tongue worms); Nematoda (roundworms); Nematomorpha (horsehair worms); Nemertea (ribbon worms); Onychophora (velvet worms); Phoronida (horseshoe worms); Platyhelminthes (flatworms); Priapulida (phallus worms); & Sipuncula (peanut worms).
While we can try to convince you that these are not in fact plush toy centipedes, velvet worms certainly look like them. These small invertebrates are neither insects nor worms, and for a long time were considered the ‘missing link’ between them. Even with the knowledge that this is not the case, velvet worms are still remarkable creatures, and unusual in almost every way.
Unlike their closest relatives, the tardigrades and arthropods, some of these little predators hunt in packs using slime jets that trap their prey.
ULTRA RARE! - Velvet Worm Brave Wilderness On this episode of Breaking Trail, Mark and Mario discover the ULTRA RARE Red Velvet Worm! Having the opportunity to be one of the first film crews to capture footage of this mysterious and rarely seen creature the crew hiked back to base camp to meet Coyote and film some true “planet earth” style macro shots on a mini set. Talk about a once in a lifetime find! Get ready see some of the rarest footage Brave Wilderness has ever featured!
RESEARCHERS FIND NEW SEA SLUG SPECIES LIVING IN RARE SYMBIOTIC ASSOCIATION WITH TUBE WORM
Most nudibranchs -a type of sea slug- feed on hydrozoans, algaes, and corals, and preffer rock as places to live, but now, russian researchers have found a new species of sea slug tha live inside a tube worm in Nha Trang, Southern Vietnam. This case is the first example of a symbiotic association between a mollusk and an annelid tube worm host amongst cladobranch sea slugs.
The new species, called Tenellia chaetopterana lives inside the tube of parchment tube worm (Chaetopterus), these are large annelid tubeworms, living in tubes of the size of an arm. In tropical waters their tubes are inhabited by symbionts such as crabs, worms or even fishes. And exactly in these tubes researchers have found this fantastic sea slug. As adaptation, Tenellia chaetopterana is small and flat. In comparison with others sea slugs does not feed on hydrozoans or other cnidarians and lacks functional cnidosacs (specific defensive structures containing stolen cnidarian nematocysts).
- Two living specimens inside dissected parchment tube worm’s tube
The egg mass is also deposited on the internal surface of the tube, thus researchers presume all stages of Tenellia chaetopterana life cycle happen inside the tube. Researchers still do not know its food source, but they suggest it may feed on the Chaetopterus mucus net.
Symbiotic nudibranch relationships have not been studied well enough. There are some few famous relationships, with crustaceans -as hermit crabs- or with single-celled “plants” zooxanthellae. When some species of sea slugs have eaten coral, they keep zooxanthellae alive in their tissues, using the ability of these organisms to convert the sun’s energy into sugars and other nutrients, in simple terms they have become “solar powered”. Here is a series of photos of another remarkable association, between a nudibranch (Gymnodoris nigricolor) and a goby fish (Gobiidae)
Reference (Open Access): Ekimova et al., 2017. Living with a giant parchment tube worm: a description of a new nudibranch species (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) associated with the annelid Chaetopterus. Marine Biodiversity.
Previously found only in deeper waters, one new species of zombie worm is found in the temperate, shallow waters off the coast of Spain. This finding expands current knowledge of the peculiar worms’ lifestyle and diversity.
These mouthless worms feed on bones with the help of bacteria inside their stalk-like structure.
Hi! I’m sorry if this is not an ask, but I can’t put pictures in asks. I was just wondering if you have an idea on what this is? If you can figure out what it is, then great! But thanks either way, whether you figure it out or not. Thanks again (and sorry)! (P.S love your blog) (*I know that there was footage of this thing on YouTube, but I can’t find it anymore.*)
@theintrovertedotaku submitted the post above.
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Hi! This is very interesting, I love mystery larvae of the deep sea. I recognized this as a Lophotrochozoa-larvae (so-called Trochophore) due to its little collar-like cilia band, but we have to be able to narrow it down even more.
After some deep-sea embryology, I ID’d this image as a Sipuncula-larvae, better known as a Peanut worm! The larvae are called Pelagosphera, due to their pelagic lifestyle. Here, have some reference material:
If they survive their tiny larval stadium, they grow to be the majestic creature below:
