Two worm species discovered in the dark recesses of the deep sea could rival the macabre beasts of your childhood nightmares. Scientists have named a new genus, Osedax, which is Latin for “bone devourer”, for worms that thrive by excavating the bones of fallen whale carcasses.
Bone sucking worms. I have to say that again because it makes me smile. Bone. Sucking. Worms. I could make a joke about how these remind me of my last girlfriend, but I will just leave that alone. It’s Friday so let’s all be happy. Especially since these Bone Sucking Worms only live in the deep parts of the ocean.
But the worms were like nothing they had ever seen before. The females – roughly the thickness of a pencil and a few centimetres in length – lack eyes, mouths or stomachs. Instead they consist of a balloon-like egg sac, which branches into a greenish root system.
