Mysterious "Sea Creature" Video from Taiwan

Shot in Taiwan, the viral video shows an elongated, shockingly green gelatineous mass slowly slithering across the ground, appearing to search for something before ejecting a hot pink filament that explosively grows in size.


Here's a still from the Telegraph UK for those who can't view the video:



The video was shot and uploaded by a Taiwanese man named Wei Cheng Jian, who was fishing in a port somewhere in the Penghu Islands when he encountered the odd creature. When he got home, he uploaded the video to Facebook and it took off from there.

Despite its otherworldly appearance, what is shown in the video is more than likely quite real and in fact, comments on several sites have already hit upon a likely (partial) identification, possibly due to the popularity of another video that made the rounds last month, depicting a similarly bizarre creature and its unusual habits. The video shows what is probably a species of "ribbon worm" from the phylum Nemertea, also known as "proboscis worms."

From Wikipedia - Nemertea:

The proboscis is an infolding of the body wall, and sits in the rhynchocoel when inactive.[11] When muscles in the wall of the rhynchocoel compress the fluid in the rhynchocoel, the pressure makes the proboscis jump inside-out to attack the animal's prey along a canal called the rhynchodeum and through an orifice, the proboscis pore. The proboscis has a muscle which attaches to the back of the rhynchocoel, and which can stretch up to 30 times its inactive length and then retract the proboscis.[4]

The proboscis of the class Anopla ("unarmed"[1]) exits from an orifice which is separate from the mouth,[4] coils around the prey and immobilizes it by sticky, toxic secretions.[15] The Anopla can attack as soon as they move into the range of the proboscis.[16] Some Anopla have branched proboscises which Ruppert, Fox and Barnes describe as "a mass of sticky spaghetti".[4] The animal then draws its prey into its mouth.[11]

In most of the class Enopla ("armed"[1]), the proboscis exits from a common orifice of the rhynchocoel and mouth. A typical member of this class has a stylet, a calcareous barb,[4] with which the animal stabs the prey many times to inject toxins and digestive secretions. The prey is then swallowed whole or, after partial digestion, its tissues are sucked into the mouth.[15] The stylet is attached about one-third of distance from the end of the everted proboscis, which extends only enough to expose the stylet. On either side of the active stylet are sacs containing back-up stylets to replace the active one as the animal grows or an active one is lost.[4] Instead of one stylet, the Polystilifera have a pad that bears many tiny stylets, and these animals have separate orifices for the proboscis and mouth, unlike other Enopla.[1][17] The Enopla can only attack after contacting the prey.[16]

The video from last month:

a reply to: theantediluvian

A little bit slow to take for a walk dont you think , and where would you put the collar . Hmm only 10 hours or so before sleep , yay .

That's pretty sickening to watch.

a reply to: lostbook

I'd say a mixture of amazement and repulsion. At least they're not that big.

From Wikipedia (my bold):

Nemertea is a phylum of invertebrate animals also known as "ribbon worms" or "proboscis worms".[3] Alternative names for the phylum have included Nemertini, Nemertinea and Rhynchocoela.[2] Although most are less than 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, one specimen has been estimated at 54 metres (177 ft), which would make it the longest animal ever found.[4] Most are very slim, usually only a few millimeters wide, although a few have relatively short but wide bodies. Many have patterns of yellow, orange, red and green coloration.

also (my bold):

In 1555 Olaus Magnus wrote of a marine worm which was apparently 17.76 metres (58.3 ft) long ("40 cubits"), about the width of a child's arm, and whose touch made a hand swell. William Borlase wrote in 1758 of a "sea long worm", and in 1770 Gunnerus wrote a formal description of this animal, which he called Ascaris longissima. Its current name, Lineus longissimus, was first used in 1806 by Sowerby.[5] In 1995, a total of 1,149 species had been described and grouped into 250 genera.[6]

Yikes.

Hospital cafeterias serve up these creatures all day long. But instead of calling it Nemertea, they call it "Lime Jello". Tastes just like chicken.

ok, that's a repulsive creature. damn!

Throw it in the gumbo pot.

a reply to: theantediluvian

I knew i had seen that slippery sucker somewhere before.....

I don't think I would eat that, even if I was starving to death.

Could it be that creatures are mutating in contaminated waters? We really need to take care of Earth better.

a reply to: theantediluvian

BURN IT!BURN THE WORLD IF YOU HAVE TO!


I'm normally un-disgustable but that is a hideous thing..

a reply to: theantediluvian

This. This is why I'm somewhat terrified of the deep ocean waters, and unknown rivers of the world.
Glad I live near the boring great Lakes, worst we hot is pike and snapping turtles.

a reply to: strongfp

I'd still rather run into one of these than a Bobbit worm.

I wonder why it has such a brilliant green color...camouflage with a kelp forest?

Ick. Nature, you are a wonderful yet disgusting place full of wonderful and/or disgusting things. Well, here's hoping I never come across such a species, although I'm sure they have their place in nature.

I would more concerned about the monsters in our own sewers....straight from North Carolina...

youtu.be...

Truly disturbing, Thorneblood! Looks like colonoscopy footage. I wonder if they ever determined what the hell that was?

a reply to: theantediluvian

Hoax, no one shot at it and its still alive. Oh wait its not from the US. Easy it was a joke.

Very weird what ever it is.