The Bizarre Case of Bone-Eating Worms

MSNBC ^ | July 29, 2004 | Daniel Kane

[BluegrassScholar]

Worms anchored to the skeleton of a young gray whale in a watery canyon off the coast of California are the first known whalebone-eating marine worms.

At this all-you-can-eat whalebone buffet, female marine worms never leave once they dig in. Males never visit the buffet — they live inside the females. Bacteria within the females’ roots help the worms eat whalebone fats. A study describing the two new species of worms appears in Friday's issue of the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the nonprofit science society.

The worms are the latest discovery in a branch of biology focused on the life that springs up on sunken whale carcasses. These carcasses — “whale falls,” in science-speak — dot the ocean floor and sustain colorful and mysterious oases of life, according to Science author Robert Vrijenhoek, a researcher from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif.

Bone-eating worms may play important roles in nutrient cycling. A dead whale is roughly equivalent, in food content, to thousands of years of life-sustaining carbon particles that slowly fall to the ocean floor as “marine snow.”

[BluegrassScholar]

Whew...when I first saw the headline, I thought my days of going barefoot were over.

[Zavien Doombringer]

Only if you are a whale.

This could be vey series, and Hugh!

[zook]

I first thought it was another piece on Michael Moore.

[Shryke]

The worms are the latest discovery in a branch of biology focused on the life that springs up on sunken whale carcasses.

Looks like some biologists have got a touch too much time on their hands. Cripes that's disgusting. Bone worms? UG!

BEEBER to the SAF list!

SAF is the Smart A$$ed Freeper list, dedicated to levity. Please email me to be on or off.

[martin_fierro]

Males never visit the buffet — they live inside the females.

I was in a dysfunctional relationship like that once.

[BlazingArizona]

Whew...when I first saw the headline, I thought my days of going barefoot were over.

No, but Linda Ronstadt better not walk around barefoot.

[marktuoni]

I think all of these whales are in T.J.!

Stuned!

Please add me to the list

[Zavien Doombringer]

I suppose these girls have something to worry about.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1181591/posts

[FreedomFarmer]

Yuuuuummmm!

T-bones!

[Zavien Doombringer]

Well, some feel they have a female inside, dying to come out...

[FreedomFarmer]

My dog has worms.
My dog eats bones.

There you go, science in action..

[Shryke]

You done got added.

[PatrickHenry]

Earlier thread on this topic: Strange Worms That Live on Whale Bones Discovered.

[Kerfuffle]

Sure are a lot of marriage metaphors in this article.