#scale worms

Scale Worm sp.

(feel free to correct me if any of the below information is false! I'm just one guy! I won't be able to edit these posts, but a correction is always appreciated anyways)

Scale worms live near hydrothermal vents and have bioluminescent scales they can shed as a defense mechanism! They're carnivorous and eat other small invertebrate! According to one of the people who nominated them, they frequently fight each other and break each other's scales!

New "glitter worms" dance and fight one another underwater

One of the newly-discovered Peinaleopolynoe worms is named after Elvis because its iridescent scales look like costume sequins. 

A new look at the critters known as “Elvis worms” has the scale worm family all shook up.

These deep-sea dwellers flaunt glittery, iridescent scales reminiscent of the sequins on Elvis’ iconic jumpsuits (SN: 1/23/20). “For a while, we thought there was just one kind of Elvis worm,” says Greg Rouse, a marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. But analysis of the creatures’ genetic makeup shows that Elvis worms comprise four species of scale worm, Rouse and colleagues report May 12 in ZooKeys.

Rouse’s team compared the genetic material of different Elvis worms with each other, and with DNA from other scale worm species. This analysis places Elvis worms in the Peinaleopolynoe genus of scale worms, which includes two other known species — one found off the coast of Spain, the other off California.

A new genetic analysis of the deep-sea creatures nicknamed “Elvis worms” reveals that that these iridescent creatures include four separate species. The Elvis worms seen in this video belong to the species Peinaleopolynoe orphanae, which mostly sport glittery blue scales, but also come in other colors, like black and red. These worms may look dainty, but they fight dirty, chomping at each other’s scales when they get into skirmishes.

The four newly identified Elvis worm species are scattered across the Pacific, from P. elvisi and P. goffrediae in Monterey Canyon off California to P. orphanae in the Gulf of California by Mexico and P. mineoi near Costa Rica.

These deep-sea Elvis impersonators share some common traits, such as nine pairs of scales. But each species has its own distinct flare. P. elvisi’s gold and pink iridescent color scheme earned it the honor of keeping the worms’ namesake in its official title. P. orphanae, on the other hand, mostly sports rainbow-sparkled scales of a bluish hue.

(feel free to correct me if any of the below information is false! I'm just one guy! I won't be able to edit these posts, but a correction is always appreciated anyways)

Glass octopus eyes are long thin and rectangular! Since their eyes are the most likely thing to get them caught as a prey creature, its thought they might have evolved like this to make it even harder to catch them from directly above or below!

Cue X-Files theme?

Proof that nature wants to scare the living fuck out of you. These adorable little abominations that look like they should be featured on the latest film adaptation of Dune are known as Polychaete Annelids, or scale worms, and are only about two or three centimeters long.

  They actually live in the deep ocean, about 1000 meters beneath the surface. This makes them extremely well adapted to living in very harsh environments, including crushing pressures, and searing heat and freezing cold temperatures. As such they're a great example of what life forms may exists on other planets since deep ocean environments are more like space then the rest of the Earth.

Images and info taken from dailymail.co.uk