Bobbit worm
Encyclopedia
Eunice aphroditois, the Bobbit worm, is an aquatic
predatory polychaete
worm
dwelling at the ocean floor at depths of approximately 10 metres (32.8 ft) to 40 metres (131.2 ft).
This organism buries its long body into an ocean bed composed of gravel
, mud
or corals, where it waits patiently for outside stimulus
to reach one of its five antennae
.
Armed with sharp teeth, it is known to attack with such speeds that its prey is sometimes sliced in half. Although the worm hunts for food, it is omnivorous
.
Little is known about the sexual habits and life span of this worm, but researchers hypothesize that sexual reproduction
occurs at an early stage, maybe even when the worm is about 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in length; this is very early, considering that these worms can grow to sizes of nearly 3 metres (9.8 ft) in some cases (although most observations point to a much lower average of 1 metres (3.3 ft)) and 25 millimetre (0.984251968503937 in) in diameter. A long lifespan
may very well explain the size of these creatures.
The Eunicidae
family of worms can be found worldwide, although warmer waters are beneficial. Eunice aphroditois has only been found in the Indo-Pacific region
.
In March 2009, the Newquay
's Blue Reef Aquarium in Cornwall UK, discovered a bobbit worm in one of their tanks. The workers had seen the devastation caused by the worm, such as fish being injured or disappearing and coral being sliced in half, but didn't find it until they started taking the display apart in the tank.
Aquatic animal
An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and the animals that...
predatory polychaete
Polychaete
The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. Indeed, polychaetes are sometimes referred to as bristle worms. More than 10,000...
worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
dwelling at the ocean floor at depths of approximately 10 metres (32.8 ft) to 40 metres (131.2 ft).
This organism buries its long body into an ocean bed composed of gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
, mud
Mud
Mud is a mixture of water and some combination of soil, silt, and clay. Ancient mud deposits harden over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone . When geological deposits of mud are formed in estuaries the resultant layers are termed bay muds...
or corals, where it waits patiently for outside stimulus
Stimulus (physiology)
In physiology, a stimulus is a detectable change in the internal or external environment. The ability of an organism or organ to respond to external stimuli is called sensitivity....
to reach one of its five antennae
Antenna (biology)
Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
.
Armed with sharp teeth, it is known to attack with such speeds that its prey is sometimes sliced in half. Although the worm hunts for food, it is omnivorous
Omnivore
Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...
.
Little is known about the sexual habits and life span of this worm, but researchers hypothesize that sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is the creation of a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms. There are two main processes during sexual reproduction; they are: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes; and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the...
occurs at an early stage, maybe even when the worm is about 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in length; this is very early, considering that these worms can grow to sizes of nearly 3 metres (9.8 ft) in some cases (although most observations point to a much lower average of 1 metres (3.3 ft)) and 25 millimetre (0.984251968503937 in) in diameter. A long lifespan
Longevity
The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected ....
may very well explain the size of these creatures.
The Eunicidae
Eunicidae
Eunicidae is a family of polychaetes. Many eunicids reach a considerable size. Their jaws are known from Ordovician sediments. They live throughout the seas; a few species are parasitic....
family of worms can be found worldwide, although warmer waters are beneficial. Eunice aphroditois has only been found in the Indo-Pacific region
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
In March 2009, the Newquay
Newquay
Newquay is a town, civil parish, seaside resort and fishing port in Cornwall, England. It is situated on the North Atlantic coast of Cornwall approximately west of Bodmin and north of Truro....
's Blue Reef Aquarium in Cornwall UK, discovered a bobbit worm in one of their tanks. The workers had seen the devastation caused by the worm, such as fish being injured or disappearing and coral being sliced in half, but didn't find it until they started taking the display apart in the tank.