#annelid

This scene wasn't apart of my original script at all, I added it during a hiatus partially because I needed a scene to help transition parts of the story but mostly because I had some one comment asking what would happen if the worms drank the energy drink. Because for some reason that never crossed my mind before and obviously that needed to happen.

Worm time. This is Proceraea okadai, a segmented worm from the family of Syllidae. They can grow up to 1.3 cm in length [1].

Like other syllid worms, P. okadai reproduce by epitoky, which is a process whereby they modify parts of their body to become suitable for reproduction and these parts (called stolons) then split off from their main body to go off and find an oppositely sexed stolon to reproduce. P. okadai does indeed have two sexes, and it is possible to distinguish male and female stolons. What exactly P. okadai does with the eggs and larvae after fertilisation has not been studied, but similar species have been known to either have the female carry them or to lay them onto hydroids, where they would feed and develop [1].

They were initially discovered in Japan, but seemed to have drifted across the Pacific, as they were found on the North American coast near Washington and San Francisco in the USA in the early 2000s [1]. Their genetic material has also been recorded to be in the Salish Sea, an area in the Northeastern Pacific, as recently as 2018 [2].

As can be seen by their distribution, they mostly inhabit temperate waters in intertidal zones. While their dietary habits haven’t been studied directly, all other species in their subfamily (Autolytinae) are carnivorous, feeding on hydroids and perhaps bryozoans, so it is a fair guess to say that they are too [1].

You and I need to have a serious talk about the Nereid worms!!!

Pile Worm, Clam Worm, or Cinder Worm (Alitta succinea), family Nereidae, off the coast of Belgium

photograph by Hans Hillewaert

Sand Worm, Sea Worm, or King Ragworm (Alitta virens), family Nereidae, off the coast of Russia

photograph by Alexander Semenov 

Mussel Worm (Nereis vexillosa), family Nereidae, off the coast of BC, Canada

photograph by Marilynne Box

And because you are a platinum level member, and we love ALL polychaetes here, here is a green Sand Mason Worm for you as well...

Green Sand Mason Worm (Lanice viridis), family Terbellidae, Lizard Island, Australia

Described in 2013.