Night Skies in the Ocean

This beautiful…um, rug is a Acanthozoon nigropapillosum flatworm; it is a member of the polyclad flatworms (Polycladida). Acanthozoon nigropapillosum is not only beautiful, but it’s also very widespread in the Indo-Pacific ocean, so there’s lots of hope for A. nigropapillosum in the future!

These can reach lengths of two to three inches and are found on reefs. What they eat is unknown…

…but I’m guessing cheeseburgers.

Wait, WHAT?

Scary Colorful Worms.

This slightly beautiful worm is a bearded fireworm (Hermodice carunculata). It’s so pretty, right? I agree. It’s a worm from the order Polychaeta that lives in Caribbean reefs across the Antilles, the Maltese archipelago, the Mediterranean, and the waters of Cyprus. Its habitat is mostly on reefs.

Now, what’s so horrible about that?

Look out, world—the bearded fireworm is DESTROYING REEFS!!

They eat all sorts of corals, and, to make it worse, they have a sting that—well…stings?

Bearded fireworms are very slow animals, but don’t be like, “Omg haha it #canthurtme.” A) Why are you doing hashtags?; and B) YOU IDIOT IF ITS BRISTLES TOUCH YOUR SKIN THEY INJECT A NEUROTOXIN INTO YOU WHICH CAUSES BURNING AND NAUSEA!

Here’s the nice, kawaii, awesome part. The sting symptoms clear up in just about thirty minutes, and, at worst, a few hours. AND, many fish are currently doing their part to control the bearded fireworm population. These include the creole fish (Clepticus parrae, which, as a bonus, is absolutely beautiful):

the pineapplefish (Cleidopus gloriamaris)—these things are adorable, by the way; “gloriamaris” means “glory of the sea”:

and the absolutely beautiful French angelfish (Pomacanthus paru):

By the way, young P. paru look way different. I’ll save that as a surprise in a later post…

A List of the Scariest Worms Ever

Freaked out by earthworms? Coward. When you see this list of worms, you’ll find them cute and cuddly!

WORM #1

The first worm on our List of Terror is Eunice aphroditois, an annelid worm from the ocean, which has a terribly disturbing way of eatin’. (And cue the Jaws music.) I’ll just leave it for you to see in the .gif below…

WORM #2

Meet the bootlace worm (Lineus longissimus). What’s absolutely foul about this bad boy is the sheer size of it. It can grow to 180 feet (55 meters) long and 3.9 (10 cm) inches wide. (I secretly love them.)

WORM #3

This is probably the worst worm on the list: the heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis). It’s a tiny roundworm which is the smallest worm on the list. Sounds cute, but then, listen to the name—heart + worm. It infects the hearts of dogs, cats, sea lions, foxes, coyotes, wolves, ferrets, and…HUMANS. They are contracted from mosquitoes. Want to see pictures? Warning: Scroll down with caution!

Help…