Terror from the Deep
October 26, 2013 4:09 PM Subscribe
CreatureCast - Rhizocephala - a charmingly animated look at the lifecycle of rhizocephalan barnacles, one of the more horrifying (non-charming) parasitic crustaceans (likewise). NOT a practitioner of parasitic castration but still disturbing: The bobbit worm. Happy swimming!
Not going to click. Nope.
posted by darkstar at 5:08 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by darkstar at 5:08 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
This FPP is brought to you by the letters C, R, O, N, E, N, B, E, R and G
posted by brundlefly at 5:17 PM on October 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by brundlefly at 5:17 PM on October 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
Come on everybody, nature is wonderful!
posted by Artw at 5:18 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 5:18 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's really not a bad article, especially if you are familiar with angler fish.
posted by Calzephyr at 5:44 PM on October 26, 2013
posted by Calzephyr at 5:44 PM on October 26, 2013
The video of the bobbit worm is amazing and terrifying in a way that I didn't expect. I generally am not bothered or alarmed by this type of thing, and the beginning of the video lulled me into thinking that I knew what I was going to see. I was wrong.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:50 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:50 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also, the Wikipedia page on barnacles introduced me to an intriguing new word: spermcasting.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:51 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:51 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Ivan Fyodorovich: "Also, the Wikipedia page on barnacles introduced me to an intriguing new word: spermcasting"
Please, please, nobody tell Cory Doctorow.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:58 PM on October 26, 2013 [7 favorites]
Please, please, nobody tell Cory Doctorow.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:58 PM on October 26, 2013 [7 favorites]
So... sorta like Rupert Murdoch yeah?
posted by Mario Speedwagon at 5:58 PM on October 26, 2013
posted by Mario Speedwagon at 5:58 PM on October 26, 2013
You've help my weight loss diet by helping me completely lose the desire to eat. Thanks.
posted by Foam Pants at 6:44 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Foam Pants at 6:44 PM on October 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
The first one is cool. Parasitic species can undergo really astounding simplification. Tapeworms don't have digestive systems. These barnacles are basically a disembodied mycorrhyzal network.
As for the Bobbit worm, it's a predatory aquatic polychaete. I mean, this is what polychaetes do. Earthworms are the exception, not the rule. They are the meek, dirt-eating losers of the annelid phylum.
posted by Nomyte at 9:20 PM on October 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
As for the Bobbit worm, it's a predatory aquatic polychaete. I mean, this is what polychaetes do. Earthworms are the exception, not the rule. They are the meek, dirt-eating losers of the annelid phylum.
posted by Nomyte at 9:20 PM on October 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
*Starts writing screenplay where John Hurt gets turned into a hot chick*
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:40 AM on October 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:40 AM on October 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
Glad to see the infamous tongue biter in the parasitic crustacean link. Now excuse me while I go rub my skin down with a cheese-grater, maybe that will stop the itching.
posted by ArkhanJG at 2:42 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by ArkhanJG at 2:42 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is absolutely fascinating! Thank you for posting this.
I love the fact that the Bobbit worm is so freaky looking but also kinda pretty. It's sitting on the ocean floor, waiting for food, displaying its pretty sparkles for all to see. And then BAM! You're dragged into its underwater lair. Also, it pleases me a little too much that Rhizocephala have a parasite of their own.
posted by Solomon at 2:52 AM on October 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
I love the fact that the Bobbit worm is so freaky looking but also kinda pretty. It's sitting on the ocean floor, waiting for food, displaying its pretty sparkles for all to see. And then BAM! You're dragged into its underwater lair. Also, it pleases me a little too much that Rhizocephala have a parasite of their own.
posted by Solomon at 2:52 AM on October 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
Ivan Fyodorovich: "Also, the Wikipedia page on barnacles introduced me to an intriguing new word: spermcasting"
*beams proudly*
posted by barnacles at 4:25 AM on October 27, 2013 [12 favorites]
*beams proudly*
posted by barnacles at 4:25 AM on October 27, 2013 [12 favorites]
it pleases me a little too much that Rhizocephala have a parasite of their own.
And they have their own little parasites to bite 'em.
And so on, ad infinitum.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:56 AM on October 27, 2013
And they have their own little parasites to bite 'em.
And so on, ad infinitum.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:56 AM on October 27, 2013
Metafilter: The meek, dirt-eating losers of the annelid phylum.
posted by slater at 6:57 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by slater at 6:57 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
It looks like the octopus gets away in the bobbit worm video. I was so relieved! That's one lucky/badass octopus.
posted by wobh at 11:10 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by wobh at 11:10 AM on October 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's parasites all the way down.
posted by brundlefly at 12:10 PM on October 27, 2013
posted by brundlefly at 12:10 PM on October 27, 2013
"It looks like the octopus gets away in the bobbit worm video. I was so relieved! That's one lucky/badass octopus."
It doesn't just get away, after it's snatched down into the worm's underground lair and seemingly vanished into thinair water, it suddenly makes a triumphant return aboveground, having fought valiantly and escaped from within the belly of the beast.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:45 AM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
It doesn't just get away, after it's snatched down into the worm's underground lair and seemingly vanished into thin
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:45 AM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
« Older Maid training camp | But down in the underground, you'll find a series... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by slater at 4:51 PM on October 26, 2013 [2 favorites]