Giant Shipworm finally found alive.

The New York Times

At the top, two flesh-toned siphons swish water over massive gills. At the bottom, a slimy, eyeless head resembles a mix of wet lips and diseased tonsils. In between, a glistening gunpowder blue body stretches up to four feet long. Instead of eating, bacteria in the creature’s gills helps it suck energy from sulfur. The whole thing is sheathed in a tusklike tube created from its secretions of calcium carbonate. Behold, the giant shipworm, your newest living nightmare.

In a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Daniel Distel, a microbiologist at Northeastern University, and colleagues described a live one for first time. Its symbiotic relationship with bacteria provides clues to how the giant shipworm evolved its strange way of eating, and may enrich our understanding of infection in humans. “We were used to shipworms, which are very delicate creatures and much smaller,” said Dr. Distel, who spent two decades searching for a living specimen of this elongated clam. “This thing is a really beefy animal.”

The giant shipworm has been known to science for a long time, but has never been observed alive, or as a complete specimen.... until very recently.

The giant shipworm relies on a different type of bacteria to survive than its smaller cousins do.

I thought this was an interesting story.

Very different !

Not that hungry ...

Sharing is caring ? No !

Run away !

a reply to: butcherguy

And here I was thinking that it gobbled ships such as I've heard about giant whales and those things with tentacles.

So they are packed full of bacteria and yet people were "sucking them down like spaghetti".

No thanks, and yet if you are pleased they have re-discovered these, then I'm pleased for you.

Giant Shipworm sushi anyone?

a reply to: angeldoll

Not for me chef... that thing is minging (Northern English for disgusting).

originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: butcherguy

And here I was thinking that it gobbled ships such as I've heard giant whales and those things with tentacles.

No, haha.
'Giant' as far as shipworms go, I guess.

I think it is kind of remarkable that people have been eating these creatures in a remote area of the Philippines for years, while naturalists couldn't seem to find a whole one intact.
Apparently this happened with the coelacanth too. Local fishermen were eating them and no one had any idea that they still existed after millions of years.

a reply to: butcherguy

Dr. Distel tracked down living animals after a student spotted people sucking them down like spaghetti on YouTube.

Yeah, ummmm no thanks.

Did you see the video/GIF of the researcher "pouring" one out of its shell? Holy **** that's nasty (and utterly fascinating). Cool thread butcherguy, thanks!

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: butcherguy

Dr. Distel tracked down living animals after a student spotted people sucking them down like spaghetti on YouTube.

Yeah, ummmm no thanks.

Did you see the video/GIF of the researcher "pouring" one out of its shell? Holy **** that's nasty (and utterly fascinating). Cool thread butcherguy, thanks!

Gross...!

I am not looking that vid/gif up, thank you very much.
Already spent the last two weeks trying to forget the
pic.

ewwwww

Seriously, I would be willing to bet money that something like this thing lives on another planet. If this don't say "alien" then I don't know what does.

a reply to: butcherguy

This is very interesting, and a fascinating animal to consider the evolution of.

I also wonder what other things might be in the ocean, which resemble this critter, and have a similar way of gaining nutrition from the environment around them. Astounding stuff!

A kind of living tree!

a reply to: butcherguy
Oh hell no! # that! Haha
S&F for you, though.

originally posted by: HawkeyeNation
Seriously, I would be willing to bet money that something like this thing lives on another planet. If this don't say "alien" then I don't know what does.

Or inside a large meteorite, comet or moonlet, like one of sealed environment glass bubble decorations. All it would need are heat, water, sulphur, calcium carbonate and dead wood. Add some cuttlefish, snails and trees, and it would be a self-sustaining environment.

I found the video where people are harvesting and eating the giant shipworm. It is in Tagalog, so I am not sure what they are saying.
The eating comes at the end of the video.
Youtube link

originally posted by: butcherguy
I found the video where people are harvesting and eating the giant shipworm. It is in Tagalog, so I am not sure what they are saying.
The eating comes at the end of the video.
Youtube link

I think this is what you meant to write:

I found the video where people are getting eaten from the inside out by the giant shipworm.

*** they can't possibly be eating it***

People have always done what they needed to do to survive, including eat stuff most of us would turn our noses up at.

Starve for a while and you never know what you'd eat.

a reply to: butcherguy

In its tube it looks like a really nice fuet or salchichon.

What horrible nightmares hide in the oceans?

I'm just curious... What were they called before there were any ships?

a reply to: Gemwolf

In the Philippines.... they were called lunch.

a reply to: Gemwolf

Dang DP.