DesertFox
07-29-2004, 01:57 PM
WASHINGTON - Two strange new species of worms, without eyes or stomachs or even mouths, have been discovered living on the bones of dead whales in California's Monterey Bay.
...researcher Robert Vrijenhoek ...said the worms, ranging from 1-inch to 2 1/2-inches long, have colorful, feathery plumes that serve as gills and green "roots" that work their way into the bones of dead whales. Bacteria living in the worms digest the fats and oils in the whalebone.
... "The worms provide insight into the cycling of carbon that reaches the bottom of the ocean. A dead whale delivers the equivalent of 2000 years of `marine snow' drifting to the bottom ... where carbon is fixed into organic molecules," Vrijenhoek said. Marine snow is made up of bits of dead fish and other matter than settle to the floor of the sea, feeding many creatures there.
... The worms found eating the whale bones were females.
"Initially we were puzzled why every worm was a female," Vrijenhoek said in a telephone interview. He said Rouse took some worms to his laboratory for study and discovered tiny male worms living inside the females.
There were as many as 50 to 100 males within each female, Vrijenhoek said.
The males still contained bits of yolk, as if they had never developed past their larval stage, but they also contained large amounts of sperm.
The female worms, regardless of size, were full of eggs, the researchers noted....
"These worms appear to be the ecological equivalent of dandelions — a weedy species that grows rapidly, makes lots of eggs, and disperses far and wide," Vrijenhoek said.
More here (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=1&u=/ap/20040729/ap_on_sc/whale_eating_worms)
...researcher Robert Vrijenhoek ...said the worms, ranging from 1-inch to 2 1/2-inches long, have colorful, feathery plumes that serve as gills and green "roots" that work their way into the bones of dead whales. Bacteria living in the worms digest the fats and oils in the whalebone.
... "The worms provide insight into the cycling of carbon that reaches the bottom of the ocean. A dead whale delivers the equivalent of 2000 years of `marine snow' drifting to the bottom ... where carbon is fixed into organic molecules," Vrijenhoek said. Marine snow is made up of bits of dead fish and other matter than settle to the floor of the sea, feeding many creatures there.
... The worms found eating the whale bones were females.
"Initially we were puzzled why every worm was a female," Vrijenhoek said in a telephone interview. He said Rouse took some worms to his laboratory for study and discovered tiny male worms living inside the females.
There were as many as 50 to 100 males within each female, Vrijenhoek said.
The males still contained bits of yolk, as if they had never developed past their larval stage, but they also contained large amounts of sperm.
The female worms, regardless of size, were full of eggs, the researchers noted....
"These worms appear to be the ecological equivalent of dandelions — a weedy species that grows rapidly, makes lots of eggs, and disperses far and wide," Vrijenhoek said.
More here (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=1&u=/ap/20040729/ap_on_sc/whale_eating_worms)