Unresolved What type of worm is this guys?

Discussion in 'ID This!' started by elweshomayor, May 4, 2015.

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  1. elweshomayor

    elweshomayor Giant Squid

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    I could swear this is a type of sea cucumber eviscerating but now i am not sure as it doesn't really look like one...
    Anyone has any ideas? perhaps a scientific name for it?

     
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  3. elweshomayor

    elweshomayor Giant Squid

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    Holy cow.. lol why are all the images so huge...I've definitely been away for too long lol
     
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  4. Vinnyboombatz

    Vinnyboombatz Giant Squid

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  5. oldfishkeeper

    oldfishkeeper Giant Squid

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    ok, that was extremely freaky!
     
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  6. DSC reef

    DSC reef Giant Squid

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    What the heck!! I'm not sure what to even say. That's just plain weird.
     
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  7. elweshomayor

    elweshomayor Giant Squid

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    im not sure its a velvet worm.. I have a feeling its some sort of sea worm of sorts.
    I originally thought it was a sea cucumber but it doesnt look like a turd lol
     
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  9. Reefbuilder

    Reefbuilder Scooter Blennie

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    I would have freaked out if that slimmed on me like that!
     
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  10. Katya

    Katya Astrea Snail

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    And I quote: http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/what-earth

    Well, it's definitely real. The exact species identification is difficult, but this seems to be a type of ribbon worm. The best guess at a specific species so far has come from Reddit user Exxocet, who suggests we're looking at a species called Gorgonorhynchus. He quotes J.F.G. Wheeler's study "The Discovery of the Nemertean Gorgonorhynchus and Its Bearing on Evolutionary Theory", which says:

    The proboscis of the nemerteans usually consists of an introverted tube in a proboscis sheath, and it is everted like a finger of a glove that has been pulled "outside in'.

    This new nemertean has also a proboscis which is retractile within a proboscis sheath, but the proboscis is branched. The branching is of the dichotomous type. During eversion, which takes place almost explosively, the short main trunk. first appears, then this dividess and the finer and filter branches appear, but since each one of these is the result of an evagination the effect is almost indescribable. It is as if a large number of lively, wriggling, minunte worms had been shot out.

    So the strange white thing that seems to "erupt" from the worm is its proboscis. This is a tubular sucking organ that some worms use to feed. The worm is feeling out what it's sitting on, trying to find out if it can eat the hand.
     
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  11. Sataly

    Sataly Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Don't forget the possibility of them carrying neurotoxin!
     
  12. Ashevillian

    Ashevillian Pajama Cardinal

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