Comments on: Giant Sea Worm Discovery

By: Alligator

Alligator — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:47:29 +0000

Gigantism of marine life occurs around thermal vents in the ocean bottom. We are just beginning to explore those regions. I maintain that if when large unknown cryptids are found, it will most likely be these regions of the ocean depths.

Let’s go worm fishing so we can go regular fishing! :-0 These suckers must have some mandibles or hard jaws.

By: Kitsos

Kitsos — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:23:12 +0000

Believe it or not we actually use a similar (if not the same one) worm as bait in Greece. I have fished many a time with it. And yes the sizes are correct. Largest one I have seen was 3.4 meters long. We call them “Pharaoh” worms because if you keep them for a long time they tend to “hibernate” and build a tough cocoon around them that looks a lot like the mummies found in tombs.

And no you do not use the whole worm as bait, you chop it up. Damn fine bait too.

They are caught by putting a small mound of fish meat outside the hole they live in. Once it pops out to eat it is speared just behind the head which is the hardest part with a small spear attached to a little float. The float eventually pulls the worm out of the hole, something that might take a day or so in some cases.

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:29:26 +0000

Reminds me of the Giant Sand Worms from DUNE. Yikes.

By: Ranatemporaria

Ranatemporaria — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:27:10 +0000

I remember a Marine Biology lecturer at Uni showing us some pictures of the abyssal sea bed. These pictures, amongst other things showed various burrows, tracks and casts, nothing particular cryptid or interesting until he revealed the massive scale in these pictures, literally 10’s of meters across. I can’t find these pictures anywhere now, god knows I have looked, but the sizes were stunning. I also remember that there were similarly large symmetrical spiral patterns speculatively accredited to giant marine worm casts.

The same lecture covered the Massive numbers (Known and projected) of nematode worm species on the sea bed some suggest between 100 and 100,000,000!

I guess my point is even the experts know admittedly next to nothing about the deep sea and marine sedimentary environment. Could be anything out there!

By: DavidFullam

DavidFullam — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:06:51 +0000

I bet you this, within one year we will have a new Sci Fi Channel original movie-”SEA WORM-Terror From the Deep!”

By: Alligator

Alligator — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:40:38 +0000

I was going to say, what if this is just a neonate?

By: dogu4

dogu4 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:48:36 +0000

According to the wikipedia entry, these creatures’ lifepatterns are not well known, living as they do buried a few feet down in the mud, but they have been found growing to over twice the length of the one discovered in the aquarium. Creatures that live in the cold mud can have very long lives, keyed into cycles in the environment that might be longer than human’s modern history and who knows if some of these or some related species exhibit indeterminate growth throughout their long lives. Could be yet another candidate for some of the sightings attributed to sea monsters.

By: graybear

graybear — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:57:01 +0000

Otters in a row, clearly.

By: ukulelemike

ukulelemike — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:20:56 +0000

Absolutely fascinating! I wish one of the pictures was with a human for scale. It’s good they kept it alive in it’s own tank-an unexpected bonus for any aquarium. That’s alotta worm!

By: crapple

crapple — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:09:36 +0000

That is why I dislike swimming in the ocean, especially when its murky.
“hey, look at that little fishy….whaaat whaaat is that crawling on my leg!?!?”