Impurest's guide to Animals #9 – Bobbit Worm

Wow its Issue #9 of Impurest Cheese’s Guide to Animals back to showcase more unusual and in some instances disturbing creatures on a weekly basis. Last week the majestic Northern Hawk Owl was in the spotlight. This week’s animal is a predator of a different kind. Hope you guys enjoy.

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Issue #9 – Bobbit Worm

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Annelidia

Class – Polychatea

Order – Eunicida

Family – Eunicidae

Genus – Eunice

Species – aphroditois

Related Species - The Bobbit Worm is one of 25 worms in the genus Eunice.

Range - Bobbit Worms are found in the tropical water of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans

Deadliest Catch - Worm Edition

The Bobbit Worm is a shallow water dwelling polychete worm that grows on average to a length of four foot although specimens reaching ten foot have been recorded in the wild. The Bobbit is mostly nocturnal and is rarely seen above ground usually only revealing one tenth of its body topped with a mouth surrounded by five sensory tentacles and a pair of jaw like structures known as a pharynx (2)

While omnivorous the Bobbit Worm proves its deadly credentials when hunting live prey. As an ambush predator it waits until a fish gets close enough to the head using its tentacles to detect the vibrations caused when the prey item moves. When within range the Bobbit strikes and grabs the fish with the pharynx sometimes hitting so hard and so fast it eviscerates its prey killing them outright with the initial impact. The prey items that survive the first strike are then injected with an aesthetic toxin and are then dragged down into the Bobbit Worm’s burrow to be consumed (3).

Unlike most worm species the Bobbit Worm has clearly defined sexual genders and reproduce by releasing eggs and sperm into the water. Breeding is synchronised and is determined by a certain phase of the moon and water temperature which trigger a mass exodus of Bobbit Worms from the seabed to rise to the surface in a mass breeding frenzy. It’s unknown if the worms have a larval stage although animals as small as ten centimetres have been discovered with working sex organs in the wild.

Five Fun Bobbit Worm Facts

The Bobbit Worm got its common name in the wake of the John Bobbit trial. It was long since thought that the female worm used her pharynx to bite off the male’s genitalia. Modern studies have shown that male Bobbit Worms have no external sexual organs proving this theory false.

Another Bobbit Worm related theory was spread by the British Paper about the bristles running down the worm’s flanks. The Daily Mail stated that the bristles (used for traction while burrowing) contained a deadly sting. Such information was incorrect and is attributed to another Polychete group the Fireworms (Amphinomidae)

Bobbit Worms have been appearing more frequently in aquariums, usually stowing away in product labelled as Live Rock. Once inside an aquarium the Bobbit will systematically destroy all other species inside until it’s the sole inhabitant.

One such stowaway Bobbit Worm found in Woking, Surrey was accidentally cut into three pieces by an overzealous fish keeper. The rear end died shortly after separation but both the middle and head sections remained alive for years after seperation

Another captive worm, this one named Barry by its keepers, ate and digested a set of metal hooks baited in an attempt to remove it from the aquarium it was decimating

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Bibliography

(1) – www.arkive.org

(2) - http://www.wired.com/2013/09/absurd-creature-of-the-week-bobbit-worm/

(3) - http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-09/09/bobbit-worm

(4) - Bannister, JV; Bannister, WH; Anastasi, A (1976). "Isolation, characterization and oxygen equilibrium of an extracellular haemoglobin from Eunice aphroditois (Passas)". The Biochemical journal 159 (1): 35–42.PMC 1164035. PMID 11776.

Picture References

[1] - http://bogleech.com/nature/worm-bobbit.jpg

[2] - http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn277/tatt_04/bobbit1_lg.jpg

[3] - http://incrediblebeings.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/il3-13620bobbit20worm20eunice20aphroditois.jpg

Hope you guys enjoyed the insight into this nightmarish predator. Drop me a comment with an animal you want explored in the next issue

Morning/Afternoon/Evening @cbishop, @laflux, @ostyo, @wildvine, @project_worm, @deathstrokergeist, @cattlebattle, @delphic, @samimista, @yokergeist, @xwraith, @warlock360, @bruxae and @jaken7

This weeks issue is called; Be Nice to Earthworms or the Truth behind Tremors

@impurestcheese: WOAH! Dem rainbow scales! That's so cool! Have you ever been hands on with these guys?

@jaken7: No although I've seen the Woking Worm. Also not enough money in the world to make me put my fingers any where near that pharynx

@impurestcheese: How come? Is it dangerous?

@jaken7: That thing's CRAYZEE check out this video that I totally didn't get sent by @impurestcheesea couple weeks ago...

@project_worm: Ah yes that video :-)

@jaken7: The jaws or pharynx can cut a fish in two!!

@impurestcheese: Damn! I'm sure that could do serious damage to a human too.

@impurestcheese: Thankfully, no one talks to me so I didn't have to look very far...

@project_worm: Memo to self - talk to the 'worm' more

@jaken7: Yep. There is a rumour of a six metre specimen in the museum of Melbourne.

@impurestcheese: KILL IT, KILL THAT UNHOLY HELL SPAWN WITH WHATEVER WIPES IT OUT FOREVER!

@impurestcheese: Noooo, no, no, no. Worm is a tool, but Project is a real smooooooooth guy... Heheheh.

@ostyo: Yep Fun Fact 6. It's widely believed that the Bobbit Worm has crawled out of the very bowels of Hell itself.

@project_worm: Sounds about right LOL

Freaky.

@cbishop: Like you wouldn't believe. And just wait till you see the other worms in the can

@impurestcheese: Haha but Earthworms are Oligocheate worms though :P. Still I like Polycheate's they have the most varied body shapes and stuff. I say this even been bitten by a ragworm on a field trip once...

@impurestcheese Enjoyed this alot though, thanks :P

@laflux: I know that, the earthworm crack was there as enticement. And yes Polychete Worms are amazing I saw a wide variety when I was living in Australia. And ouch Ragworm bites, from what I hear they feel like bee stings. Just be glad it wasn't the Bobbit though, then you'd be missing some toes.

Yikes!!!

@impurestcheeseReally interesting. This is a creature I've never seen before. At first it didn't scared me so much to look at it. But a worm with most of its body vertically buried into a seabed and pouncing its head out to bite preys, the idea is what made me began to cringe.

And it looks really creepy with that foil luster throughout its body, like it's recycle material at one time.

Why does so many things that's omnivorous has horrifying eating method? Bear's eating method with its prey is also quite horrifying. And human bites are notorious for its germ.

Looking forward to the next one.

@cattlebattle: That is the correct response to seeing a Bobbit Worm. Running and Screaming are also acceptable

@deadite: Glad you (kind of) enjoyed it. Yes the Bobbit is a freaky beastie but trust me when I say that the omnivorous diet isn't the most disgusting thing that Nature has come up with. Just wait till we hit our first parasitic animal (ETA Next Week)

@impurestcheese: The Bobbit worm Jaws kind of reminds me of the secondary pair of Jaws, Moray eels have :P

@laflux: Nature often reuses ideas that work. It's the reason why sharks, tuna and dolphins have similar bodies despite being unrelated. Phyaginal or Secondary Jaws are quite commen in the Animal Kingdom with groups such as Eels, Dragonflies and worms all possessing similar structures. There is even evidence that Mosasaurs had a secondary lower jaw for walking prey into the back of it's mouth.

I was unaware that Dragonflies had that. Thanks :)

It looks like one of the bosses from the SNES Star Wars game.

@impurestcheese: They should change it's name to the willie giver. Because you gives you the willies, but it would also be ironic because the woman take away willies apparently......ah well, can't win them all

@laflux: It's more the nymphs that have this feature.

@xwraith: Yep the Bobbit Worm spawned a whole load of monstrous worm type enemies

@cattlebattle: Cool somebody picked up on the John Bobbit reference. And there are many names it should be given all of which include expletives.

@impurestcheese: WOAH! 0.0 These are absolutely beautiful. I never heard of bobbit worms before! =O I could seriously just stare at these pictures all day. So mesmerizing!

Thanks very much for sharing. =D

@samimista: It's what I'm here for. The Bobbit has been described as a killer rainbow with a pair of sheers for a head.

@impurestcheese: Hehehe! xD Now that is a badass nickname.

How have you been dearie? =D

@impurestcheese: I assume a lot of people on here are too young to remember the John and Lorena Bobbit thing. Not me though, I am an old man :(

@samimista: I've been better but definitely been a lot worse. Late April is my least favourite time of year

@cattlebattle: Probably won't despite it's gruesomeness

@impurestcheese: You should join the RPG forums.

@dark_vengeance_: Wow where did that come from? Are they in need of ecologists and their hordes of unusual creatures?

The Bobbit is back and badder then ever

@impurestcheese:

No, they're in need of players. You seem to be a really good and imaginative writer. If you're interested I'll forward you to one of my friends since I"m about to leave.

@dark_vengeance_: Uh sure. Wouldn't know what to do but okay.

@impurestcheese:

Don't worry, he'll enlighten you.

@dark_vengeance_: Thanks

Ignoring the tremors mouth, it's kinda pretty

@cgoodness: Yep but that mouth is hard to ignore

The Bobbit Worm trading card is a lethal addition and lives up to the animals gruesome reputation

One of these things ate and digested some metal hooks. That's funny and scary at the same time.

That's nasty.

@cable_extreme: Thanks I try

@wildvine: Yes it's hilarious until you realise that 'Barry' (the name given to the Bobbit) is alive and well to this day

The more I read your articles, the more afraid I am about being in any natural body of water. So now, if I go to Mexico again, I can't take a late night dip ever again (illegal anyway, haha), expecting these things to pop up. And they show only a tenth of their body? How aren't there movies made about this worm by now?

Barry sounds like a trooper.

@hislolita: Bobbits were the inspiration for a series called Tremors I believe and yep they are pretty creepy (nasty too especially when a thousand rise from the depths at once for a mass orgy)

The nightmare worm returnath again

It gets my vote in the hypothetical fight.