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Giant Sea Worm Unmasked as Coral Killer

8145-20090319105224.jpg

A gigantic worm turned up at an aquarium in England, according to a tourist website of Great Britain. The 1.2 meter-long unidentified worm kills corals in the Blue Reef Aquarium.

The following is the rest of the story reported on March 17, 2009 from Newquay.

Aquarists at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay have discovered the identity of a mysterious killer that had been devastating their coral reef display over recent months.

Staff at the award-winning attraction had been puzzled by violent attacks on their fragile living reefs - in some cases the corals had been literally cut in half.

After staking out the display for several weeks, aquarists decided as a last resort to take it apart rock by rock.

Halfway through the process the terrifying perpetrator was finally revealed - a monstrous four-foot-long giant reef worm.

Staff eventually lured it out with fish scraps - but not before it bit through 20lb fishing line.

Curator Matt Slater said: "As part of our tropical marine displays we have been painstakingly propagating a variety of corals. They are extremely slow-growing and every one we have lost to these attacks was a major blow.

"In the end it got so bad that I decided to literally take the display apart to find out who was responsible. I could hardly believe my eyes when I finally caught sight of the culprit.

"It really does look like something out of a horror movie! It's over four feet long with these bizarre-looking jaws. Having done some research we also discovered that it is covered with thousands of bristles which are capable of inflicting a sting resulting in permanent numbness."

Matt believes it probably arrived as a juvenile in a delivery of living rock from another aquarium.

http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=8145

This is why I like to keep a reasonable distance from the ocean. >_<
 
Kinda cute and cuddly..........

:p
 
$10 says it tastes like chicken.
 
alien ! lol seriously the ocean is full of this wicked stuff, just imagine when u swiming on the beach and u saw a big shadow under the water just beneath u ! and u can feel it with ur toes =o thats awesome lolll
 
ech; thats just not right.
 
I find the ocean most fascinating. The diversity of life is amazing, and to think we've barely explored it. But - it's the stuff of nightmares. Nasty stuff down there. It would be fun to throw a leash on this thing and walk it down the block though. Then truly I'd be a chick magnet.
 
That's like the picture I get in my minds eye when I read William Burroughs' stories that mention "death in centipede" describing these ugly beasties eating their way out of sacrificial victims in the Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands books.

Then in Naked Lunch we have: "The six foot aquatic black centipede is eaten like a foul cheese. Eaters of The Black Meat eat, vomit and eat again..." :-O

They even LOOK like the centipedes hanging for sale in the Interzone market place in the film adaption of Naked Lunch.
 
but not before it bit through 20lb fishing line.

thats nothing, ive had 6 inch northern pike do that :D

$10 says it tastes like chicken.

doubt it......worms tend to taste like what they eat.....or dont taste like anything much.....granted ive never been given a marine worm to eat on a dare though..........
 
Then the worm would taste like.... coral? o.o ugh, and that is right... the oceans yet to be explored, dinosaurs and prehistoric water mammals, fish may still be all the way down there. also, pollution is mutating animals. :/ which is, radioactivity.
 
  • #10
And I thought the bristle worms in my reef tank were nasty...
 
  • #12
The biologist in me says "cool!"

The logical person in me says "Dear God, pleas let this be an April fools..." :p
 
  • #13
Neat-o. It kind of looks cute. It looks like it has a pig nose. :p

...fish may still be all the way down there.

What do you mean? The ocean floor?
 
  • #14
Having done some research we also discovered that it is covered with thousands of bristles which are capable of inflicting a sting resulting in permanent numbness."

Hmm, sounds like some poor assistant found that out the hard way.
 
  • #15
lol, looks like an overgrown millipede :D I'll take it off yer hands ;)
 
  • #16
"inflicting a sting resulting in permanent numbness"

I wonder if one of the staff members had found that little detail out firsthand.


thats nothing, ive had 6 inch northern pike do that
I would say its something for a creature that has no jaws..!
 
  • #17
if it can bite through coral it has jaws.........
 
  • #18
I suppose I should have made that "bony jaws" and "teeth"... although but then there is the whole termite-wood thing and the...
Yeah, never mind.
 
  • #19
That looks like something out of a horror movie... "Don't look under your bed kids, or the giant worm will get you!"
 
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