Annelid · marine worm

Bone-eating zombie worm

Osedax rubiplumus

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic Found in 3 oceans

Depth

Between about 1,800 and 2,900 m in Monterey Bay

Size

Female up to about 6 cm, dwarf males 0.3 mm

Diet

Fats and collagen from whale bones, thanks to bacteria

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• Discovered in 2002 on a dead gray whale at the bottom of Monterey Bay.
• It has neither mouth nor gut: bacteria in its green roots extract food from the bone.
• The females house dozens, even hundreds, of tiny males in their tube.
• It can colonize a bone in only about two months.

And the sperm whale?

It lives on whale skeletons that have fallen to the bottom, during the early stages of the whale fall.

Verified sources

1. MBARI Annual Report 2017, Uncovering the deep-sea world of bone-eating worms
2. Science News, Gutless Wonder: New symbiosis lets worm feed on whale bones
3. Jones et al. (2007), Marine worms (genus Osedax) colonize cow bones, Proc. R. Soc. B
4. SeaLifeBase, Osedax rubiplumus
5. Eilertsen et al. (2020), A new species of Osedax from colonization experiments in the Arctic deep sea, Frontiers in Marine Science

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Carcass bacterial matsBeggiatoa spp. GrenadierFamily Macrouridae Tripod fishBathypterois grallator Swimming sea cucumberEnypniastes eximia Giant sea spiderColossendeis colossea Wolftrap anglerfishThaumatichthys sp.