If this monster (PHOTO) is a microscopic creature, why it has teeth???

The monster I'm referring to, is a hydrothermal worm, which allegedly are deep sea organisms found in hydrothermal vents.

This is not photoshop, no clever graphics, no movie scene... it's a hydrothermal worm. And it's a real creature. It's just really, really small. So small in fact, that this image comes from an electron microscope. Taken using an FEI Quanta SEM, this image is amazingly zoomed in 525 times. The real width of the field in the image is 568μm, or 568/1000 of a millimeter. It's far larger than an atom, but still among the smallest living things(...)

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Does anyone care to explain why a microscopic creature has teeth??

They're only going to get bigger.

www.imdb.com...

So that it can fill up on microscopic food?

reply to post by 1AnunnakiBastard


So,.........It can chew...cut...tear...hang on to it's food
Thats usually why things have teeth, even microorganisms. Though just because something had its photo taking with a scanning electron microscope doesn't mean the object in question is extremely small. It just allows for a very clean detail image of the object.

those arent teeth, also why cant microsopic creatures have teeth?

Anyone ever watch the movie "Teeth"

Those are not teeth and that is not the mouth end of the worm, it is the "other" end.
ouch!

reply to post by 1AnunnakiBastard


Ask anyone that has had a case of the crabs.

Little teeth...big bite.

Nice pic tho.

I do not know why it has them, but they are awesome. I think we get lost in this idea that nature is perfect. Well it is not. This may be something not needed

Originally posted by redbarron626
Those are not teeth and that is not the mouth end of the worm, it is the "other" end.
ouch!

WOW! no taper to the turd just snip and it's left clean as a whistle. Isn't nature awesome? I mean it ain't like they can use the Charmin, right?

Originally posted by redbarron626
Those are not teeth and that is not the mouth end of the worm, it is the "other" end.
ouch!

If that's the case it'd be pretty safe in jail HAHA

reply to post by BeyondPerception


Love it. Or maybe "Deep Rising"

reply to post by Starcaller


I think that was on IFC a week or so ago...EWWW LOL I saw it!

The section of teeth appear to be bone compared to the surrounding soft tissue. The precision array of teeth are a complete contrast to the puffy pillow exterior.

Its mouth reminds me of the squid and octopus beak. This section of the creature is the only hard area of the animal. I wonder if they are distant cousins of the sea? The worm has 11 small nubs for legs compared to the eight long legs of the octopus and squid.

Octopuses and squids have hard, parrot-like beaks. These are excellent for killing, and tearing pieces of flesh from their prey.[/url]

Octopus and Squid Facts

edit on 20-7-2011 by lostinspace because: added missing word

It could be a bad experiment gone wrong with cockatoo. The same goes with the monster photo.

reply to post by 1AnunnakiBastard



Active hydrothermal vents are believed to exist on Jupiter's moon Europa..so maybe these things can be found there as-well..or maybe something worse?

My educated opinion would he so that it can keep itself in place.

As was said before they exist near oceanic thermal vents, around these vents there is usually a fairly strong current caused by expanding water due to thermal heat release. These teeth probably evolved into this tiny creature due to its evolutionary benificiality. You see, if a creature in these thermal areas were unable to hold themselves in place they would he pushed away from the vents which could be expected to isolate it from its food source. So, when the mutation occurred that created these teeth the toothed creature would have had a much greater chance of survival because it could latch directly onto its food source or keep itself in the near proximity to the food source, meaning that extended survival would have ensured greater chance of mating and/or reproduction which overtime would have allowed the species numbers to dramatically increase. With increased study and knowledge I bet its found that this image is not of the feeding end of the animal, it probably doesn't serve much purpose.

Then again it could also.be used to crush solid rock for nutrient intake but usually these thermal vent deep water tiny species will just absorb sulfer dioxide from its surrounding so I doubt its to break rock.