In March 2009, there was a "supernatural event" at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, Cornwall, England.
It all happened because the aquarium staff found that the corals and fish in the fish tanks were inexplicably damaged, and some of the corals were even cut in half.
Matt Slater, the aquarium's superintendent, said: "Something is going at the enormity of coral, but we don't know anything about it, and we also found an injured spiny tail fish. ”
To this end, they set traps and set up all kinds of baits night after night, but these baits, along with the hooks, mysteriously disappeared.
After weeks without a clue, they decided to remove the other items in the fish tank first to see if they could find the "criminals." It was at this time that they discovered the Bobbit Worm, which was lurking 1.2 meters long in the fish tank.
Bobbitt worm
And it is such a bug that has been secretly destroying corals, eating schools of fish, destroying traps, and the hooks hidden in the bait are probably in its stomach.
The staff gave it the name "Barry," and barry is no longer part of the world, but it, and the species it represents, the Bobbitt, still lives in our nightmares.
If you've ever heard the story of the Mongol Dead Worm, it's easy to tie the two together. It was a giant worm-like bug that spewed a highly corrosive, highly toxic liquid and produced a powerful electric current.
Picture of the Dead Worm in Mongolia
Of course, the story of the "Worm of Death" needs to be studied, but the Bobbitt Worm, known as the "Hellworm", can be said to be the "Worm of Death" in the ocean.
Bobbitt worms can reach a maximum size of 3 meters, and the average length observed so far is also about 1 meter. In other words, the Bobbitt worms found in the Blue Reef Aquarium barely crossed the average line.
This size will make people think that the name snake will be more in line with its shape, in fact it is a species of insect under the phyla, polychaetes, and the family Isosha silkworm family, and it is the longest polychaete.
So why hasn't anyone in the aquarium noticed the 1.2-meter-long bug? In fact, Bobbitts bury 90% of their bodies in the seabed of rubble, dirt or coral, only a few inches long, and they only come out at night to hunt.
So when you encounter a Bobbitt worm in the wild, it's hard to tell how long a body is buried under the sand.
If you look closely, you will find the beautiful rainbow color on its body surface, only look at the part of its body that they expose, but it is not so crazy, after all, the serpentine is a fear buff for people. But it's the part that seems "OKAY" that is the nightmare of other marine life.
Bobbitt worms usually feed on small fish and worms. It does not need to rely on its huge body to deter prey, but uses the "waiting for the rabbit" style of hunting and powerful mouth organs, and it is reduced to its own plate before the other party reacts.
Bobbitt worms have muscular feeding organs, which we call pharynx, and have sharp jaws at their ends, which can strike quickly when prey passes by, with enough strength to tear a fish in half.
Although they have no eyes, the exposed part has 5 tentacles that are able to sensitively perceive the prey passing by and quickly strike to drag it into the hole.
If the prey hadn't been bitten to death, you'd know what it was like to be dragged into a Bobbitt's cave and an unspeakable nightmare.
Scientists' visions of caves
Ecologist Luis M. A. Thompson, who studied animal polychaets in the study of animals, said that he would not be able to do so in the field Luis F. Carrera-Parra and Sergio Sergio I. Salazar-Vallejo believes that Bobbitt worms inject some anesthetic or deadly toxins into their prey, especially if the prey is larger than itself, to ensure that the prey is safely ingested and then digested through the intestines.
So don't look at it as just a bug, it is no less ferocious than some larger predators, and even the lionfish we mentioned earlier, which has almost no natural enemies, has been "poisoned" by Bobbitt worms.
Interestingly, one of their food, the Bream, saw through the "sneaky" behavior of bobbitt worms. During the day, the Bream can see the Bobbitt, and they work together to blow away the sand covering the Bobbitt, exposing its hiding place.
In 2016, scientists discovered that Scolopsis affinis, like flocks of birds, besieged Bobbitt's hiding place and sprayed water streams from its mouth, forcing it to hide deeper into the cave.
Although they do not directly destroy their flesh, this "revenge" method is also more uncomfortable for the Bobbitt worms who are accustomed to "ambushing".
The model built by the researchers
In addition to appearance and behavior, the name "Bobbitt Worm" is also full of sci-fi compared with "Worm" and "Sand Silkworm". It is said that this may have something to do with the tragic experience of a man named John Wayne Bobbitt who was "cut off" by his wife.
This is a sensational domestic violence incident that occurred in 1993 in the United States. Lorena Bobbitt, then 22, was overwhelmed by her husband's infidelity and abuse, and one Sunday night she carried an 8-inch meat cleaver into her bedroom, cut off the "lifeblood" of drunken John, and drove him into a field not far away.
Lorena, who had calmed down, probably realized that something was wrong, so she called the police and confessed her crime, telling them where she had thrown the damn thing. After a thorough search, the 26-year-old former Marine retrieved his mutilated "lifeblood" and picked it up again.
Later, at a court hearing in January 1994, prosecutors and a jury took only 7 hours to acquit Lorena because she had been injured in a state of insanity.
Lorena was released after a period of mental observation at the state hospital. Instead of being anonymous because of this shameful experience, John, who recovered after surgery, went down the path of stars.
So what does this incident have to do with Bobbitt Worm? It is said that about 20 years ago, an underwater photographer saw the insect's powerful ability to bite off prey, which reminded him of Lorena, who thought there was some similarity in the behavior of the two.
There is also a theory that when a boy is diving at night, the key part is poisoned by his mouth, but so far there have been few reports related to the injury of the Bobbitt worm.
In fact, it does not matter how the name comes from, the current Bobbitt worm also has its own scientific name Eunice aphroditois, but scientists still have a huge controversy over the classification and attribution of Bobbitt worm.
Bobittworm was first found in tropical Waters of the Indo-Pacific Ocean near Sri Lanka and is found in tropical waters around the world. Scientists, however, think people may mistake other similar giant isotica silkworms for Bobbitt worms.
It is very difficult to distinguish these different species from the appearance alone, which also makes the taxonomic and systematic study of species within the genus Eunice very complicated.
Anja Schulze, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University, said marine biologists don't often encounter these sand silkworms in the wild, so the specimens have great scientific value.
But how it is saved has become a troublesome problem. The specimens that the scientists had access to were soaked in formalin or ethanol, which filtered out their brilliant rainbow colors. According to Schultz, these colors may be one of the criteria for distinguishing different species of Bobbitt worms.
So studies of their phylogenetic traits at the molecular level, as well as more data on their habitats, can serve as a very useful and necessary tool for more precise classification of these mysterious species.
For example, recent studies have officially classified the giant isosquadra silkworms that inhabit the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas as Eunice rousseau, rather than Bobbitt worms.
Interestingly, they often sneak into human society inexplicably and live well. In addition to the example mentioned at the beginning, in 2009, a 3-meter-long Bobbitt worm weighing nearly 0.5 kg was found in the Fishing Port of Seto, Japan, which is the largest Bobbitt worm found so far.
The British "Daily Mail" also reported the experience of an American man who found bobbitt worms in his fish tank.
In addition, little is known about how Bobbitts reproduce, and researchers speculate that the sexual reproduction of Bobbitts occurs in the early stages, even when they are only 100 mm long, which is very early compared to the larger sizes that follow.
The researchers also tried to lift the veil over their reproduction by starting with their close relatives of Bobbitt worms. They found that some isoscells undergo drastic changes in their bodies in order to reproduce.
The back half of their body changes to contain sperm or oocytes, and they usually have a large eye-like spot. For a short period of time, they would leave the shelter and swim en masse to the surface of the sea. This cluster behavior ends with the mass release of sperm and eggs, through which fertilization is done.
At this point, you may have a "bold idea" of bobbitt worms, especially when you think of sand silkworms, which are commonly known as "sea centipedes" that can be used as both feed and delicacies.
clam worm
However, sand silkworms belong to the sand silkworm family, which is very different from the Bobbitt worm of the sand silkworm family. As for how bobbitt worms taste, this may require "the first person to eat crab" to answer.
Matt Simon. Absurd Creature of the Week: 10-Foot Bobbit Worm Is the Ocean's Most Disturbing Predator. Wired. 2009.6.13.
The Tale of Two Bobbitts - and both Worms! HubPages. 2019.4.18.
Lachat, J., Haag-Wackernagel, D. Novel mobbing strategies of a fish population against a sessile annelid predator. Sci Rep 6, 33187 (2016).
What is a bobbit worm? Science Focus.
Bobbit Worm: Characteristics, information, habits and more. Our Marine Species.