Bizarre bivalve: first living giant shipworm discovered in Philippines
by Nicola Davis from on (#2KCSG)
Mud-dwelling organism that lives head down in a tusklike tube found alive for first time, although its existence had been known of for centuries
About three feet long and glistening black with a pink, fleshy appendage, it looks like the entrails of an alien from a bad horror film. In fact, it is a giant shipworm.
Discovered in the mud of a shallow lagoon in the Philippines, a living creature of the species has never been described before - even though its existence has been known for more than 200 years thanks to fossils of the baseball bat-sized tubes that encase the creature.
Continue reading...