Real photos of an underwater worm you’ll wish were AI
It’s time for the blobfish to move over. There’s another ugly sea creature in town (or the reefs, rather), and it’s essentially nightmare fuel.
This is what Eulagisca gigantea, or the Antarctic scale worm, looks like.
This is one of the most horrifying animals in earth: Eulagisca gigantea
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SerafinZufferey / Reddit
Despite its terrifying and slightly dazzling appearance, this creature can’t harm you. It doesn’t bite, sting, or kill, and it lives 500 meters below sea level in the Southern Antarctic Ocean.
This scale worm’s name comes from its size. At up to 20 centimeters long, it also has up to 40 body segments, each with structures that closely resemble human teeth.
On a glamorous note, this sea worm is also unique for its golden-brown parapodia, which look like paintbrush bristles. Besides that, it’s a relatively flat creature that shuffles along the ocean floor and occasionally swims around. It’s got two pairs of eyes and three antennae that it uses for mechanosensory, like detecting pressure, touch, and vibration.
On its back, it looks significantly more palatable. It’s covered in elytra, which are shield-like scales. It resembles thinner, layered turtle shells.
While not a threat to civilians on land, the frontmost segment of this freakish creature shows that it is certainly a formidable predator. While scientists still aren’t quite sure what they eat, theories point towards small sea animals and organic debris, such as dead plankton and seaweed. The section of the worm that looks like a head is called a “retractable proboscis,” an “elongated sucking mouthpart,” as Oxford Dictionary describes it. Not only can the worm fold it back up into its body, but it can also turn it inside out — a truly horrific feat. Don’t worry, though. This disturbing appendage only comes out at mealtime.
Though it won’t take the title of Most Beautiful Marine Animal anytime soon, Eulagisca gigantea might just be one of the most fascinating sea creatures out there. Sure, it’s a little ugly, but it’s also nothing short of unforgettable.
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