Giant Shipworm | World's Weirdest Animals

Creeping and crawling below the earth’s surface is a worm you’ll have to see to believe, on this episode of world’s weirdest animals we bring you the shipworm.

-found in the Philippines
-lives in a long hard shell
-it’s long slimy like a worm but 3 feet long
-have been documented since the 18th century
-only recently have scientists have had access to living forms of the creature
-they belong to the mollusks family such as scallops, mussels and oysters
-they shell they inhabit is made of calcium carbonate
-they can be found in shallow lagoons immersed in mud, they are basically the geoduck of the philippines
-they burrow in rotting pieces of wood and feed on bacteria in the mud, these creatures essentially hang upside down with a siphon protruding out of the mud and their mouth at the bottom of the tube
-the y shaped siphon is used for taking in and expelling water
-the surrounding mud emits hydrogen sulfide which is used by the gills of the shipworm to produce carbon which they feed off.
-simplified they convert chemicals from rotting wood into fuel which is similar with plants and sunlight.
-the hydrogen sulfide rich mud also reeks of rotten eggs which apparently means mealtime for the shipworm.
-the shells of shipworms have been found for some time as they have very sturdy but only recently have scientists found the live shipworm itself.
-the worms were once common all over the world but their numbers have declined
-to make things worse for the shipworm their shells are quite valuable to collectors
-prior to this shipworm finding, the best information scientists had was from drawings of a poorly preserved 1960s specimen that was dead
-when scientists opened the shell they said it was a lot like opening an egg and were shocked by how black the shipworm is and how beefy they are

Footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifPsngoQ1aY

Sources:
http://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/giant-shipworm/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAprWyvMKn8

Check out some of our other videos:

Top 10 Fruits You’ve Never Heard Of Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRdgPyZF45g&feature=youtu.be
Top 10 Fruits You’ve Never Heard Of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKTej1u-7-0&feature=youtu.be

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Intro music thanks to Machinmasound:
Rallying the Defense:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruPk4RD19Nw

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