U.S. and Filipino scientists have announced the discovery of a new species Teuthidodrilus samae, which they immediately named “squidworm.” It is a flat, eyeless, free-swimming worm with up to ten squid-like appendages. It also has twenty five or more pairs of translucent fins arranged on its sides for swimming. The creatures were found between 6,650 and 9,550 feet below the surface of the ocean in the Celebes Sea between Indonesia and The Philippines.
That having been noted, the squidworm differs dramatically from all known worms in that it is a polychaete — a type of bristly annelid that is generally found in marine environments — and seems to be a missing link between benthic polychaetes living on the seafloor and pelagic ones dwelling much further up.
U.S. and Filipino scientists have announced the discovery of a new species Teuthidodrilus samae, which they immediately named “squidworm.” It is a flat, eyeless, free-swimming worm with up to ten squid-like appendages. It also has twenty five or more pairs of translucent fins arranged on its sides for swimming. The creatures were found between 6,650 and 9,550 feet below the surface of the ocean in the Celebes Sea between Indonesia and The Philippines.