BS: sea worms - glow-in-dark

Subject: BS: sea worms - glow-in-dark
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 11:52 AM

The sea worms themselves don't glow in the briny abyss. They eject small glowing packages when threatened. Or perhaps to say 'Hey baby, how about it?'

This is too wonderful not to be shared.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/science/25obbomb.html

Subject: RE: BS: sea worms - glow-in-dark
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 02:02 PM

I can't read NYT stuff (they want you to register) but do you mean the palolo worm?

It isn't "when threatened". They have an amazing strategy for reproducing while minimizing their risk of being eaten. They live on the seabed, and on one night of the year (first full moon in October, I think) they detach their genitals, which float up to the surface in billions all over the Pacific, glowing and copulating autonomously. Polynesians scoop up the genitals and eat them. Apparently they taste nondescriptly fishy.

You have to wonder what sort of lovesongs humans would have produced if we reproduced that way. (Or, perhaps, if our genitals glowed in the dark).

Subject: RE: BS: sea worms - glow-in-dark
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 02:36 PM

There are many different uses of glowing body parts in the ocean, this appears to be a novel deep-ocean discovery.


New Find in the Pacific: Worms With Glow Sticks
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Published: August 20, 2009

Scientists have discovered seven new species of deep-sea worms in the Pacific. The worms, members of a new genus, Swima, are up to about four inches long, eyeless and have paddlelike bristles that move rapidly, allowing them to swim forward or backward.

That's all very interesting, but what makes the worms truly spectacular are the little green glow sticks that are found on five of the species. Attached to segments near the head, these tiny organs — more blobs than sticks, actually — can be released from the body, instantly producing a bright green bioluminescence that lasts for many seconds as the worms swim away. The researchers refer to the worms colloquially as green bombers and say the phenomenon may help them distract potential predators.

Subject: RE: BS: sea worms - glow-in-dark
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 03:31 PM

Jack Campin brought an image to my mind: What if humans were able, in moments of peril or other need, to eject a cloud of fairy dust to blind or confuse attackers or unwanted conversationalists, at a party, aay, and move away undetected?

Methinks that our development was shortsighted and incomplete.

Subject: RE: BS: sea worms - glow-in-dark
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 04:06 PM

These are a newly-discovered, deep-sea form. If you Google 'sea worm Karen Osborn' you will find several articles.

I believe there's a pop song about this already:

You don't bring me flowers -
You don't send me love bombs -
You don't bring me flowers anymore.

I saw the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain do it on YouTube.

Ebbie, I like your fairy dust idea.