March 5, 2025 at 1:58 PM
And the answer, as best we can tell is: they have no idea they're as sparkly as a prom dress.
The iridescence is a structural color, a natural consequence of stacking layers of chitin on their plates ('elytra') to sufficient thickness to be protective.
What horrors are they protecting against?
The iridescence is a structural color, a natural consequence of stacking layers of chitin on their plates ('elytra') to sufficient thickness to be protective.
What horrors are they protecting against?
September 23, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Apologies for the bad filming, this guy was very fast and erratic! Which is why I wanted to show you the footage actually. I found this polychaete (bristle worm) larva’s behaviour fascinating - I’ve never seen one respond so dramatically to the edge of the water droplet before.
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🦑
February 5, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Yow. Wotta mouth! Antarctic #wormwednesday USNM 75711, Austrolaenilla hastulifera!
May 21, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Yow. Wotta mouth! Antarctic #wormwednesday USNM 75711, Austrolaenilla hastulifera!
March 8, 2025 at 3:13 AM
#Wormwednesday and WOW!
Who ever said worms weren’t beautiful?!? This is a marine scaleworm, drifting through the open ocean with the plankton.
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#scaleworm #worm #marineworm #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #underwater #scubadiving #blackwaterphotography #gug #chrisgug #gugunderwater
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#scaleworm #worm #marineworm #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #underwater #scubadiving #blackwaterphotography #gug #chrisgug #gugunderwater
March 6, 2025 at 3:55 PM
#Wormwednesday and WOW!
Flatworms are gross? Nah. Flatworms are cuties!!! 🥰
Check out this baby with its comical eyes (Geoplanidae)
Check out this baby with its comical eyes (Geoplanidae)
January 19, 2025 at 11:12 PM
April 2, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Christmas Tree worms of all color to brighten up the day. #marinelife #photography
December 25, 2024 at 5:22 PM
Bringing this back for #WormWednesday 🦑🐙
Gossamer worm from tonight! I was about to leave the dock when it swam right up to me 🤩
🦑🐙🌿
🦑🐙🌿
January 16, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Bringing this back for #WormWednesday 🦑🐙
A new sighting for me: a large serpulid, the red trumpet calcareous tubeworm Serpula columbiana! What a riot of colors. Found while dockfouling in Morro Bay, CA. Serpulids build hard calcareous tubes and filter feed using these appendages. 🦑🦀📸OlympusTG6.
March 17, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Polychaete worms can have jaws made of iron. Forget teeth—some deep-sea worms went full metal and said, "Bite harder."
#MetalMouths nerdist.com/article/bris... #marinelife #invertebrate
#MetalMouths nerdist.com/article/bris... #marinelife #invertebrate
These Ocean-Dwelling Bristle Worms Have Jaws Made of Metal
Scientists have studied the jaws of the ocean-dwelling bristle worm and found that it is partially made of iron, and as strong as a piece of metal.
nerdist.com
January 22, 2025 at 10:20 PM
#wormwednesday is the perfect opportunity to show off one of my favorite marine worms, Alitta williami. Simply because they are BEAUTIFUL
April 8, 2026 at 6:26 PM
#wormwednesday is the perfect opportunity to show off one of my favorite marine worms, Alitta williami. Simply because they are BEAUTIFUL
Occiperipatoides gilesii, a velvet worm i found in Julimar State Forest NE of Perth, during the BioBlitz this weekend. VERY unexpected, given the Wandoo woodland there was mostly bare laterite soil.
#onychophora #velvetworm #Peripatopsidae #bioblitz
#onychophora #velvetworm #Peripatopsidae #bioblitz
September 10, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Who ever said worms weren’t beautiful?!? This is a marine scaleworm, drifting through the open ocean with the plankton.
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#scaleworm #worm #marineworm #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #underwater #scubadiving #blackwaterphotography #gug #chrisgug #gugunderwater
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#scaleworm #worm #marineworm #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #underwater #scubadiving #blackwaterphotography #gug #chrisgug #gugunderwater
March 6, 2025 at 5:35 PM
One of the largest and prettiest #scaleworm I’ve ever found. There’s a term, “meroplankton” which describes organisms who will spend only part of their lives, or earlier life stages drifting by with the plankton. #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #polychaete #deepseacreatures
May 27, 2026 at 11:34 AM
CHONKY BOI
#wormwednesday
#wormwednesday
Pile worms — scientific name Nereis vexillosa — can reach up to 30 centimeters (a little over 11 inches) long and are often found burrowed in sand or among mussels & barnacles. 🧵⤵️
📷 mjonwhidbey on iNaturalist
📍 United States
🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#ObservationOfTheDay
📷 mjonwhidbey on iNaturalist
📍 United States
🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#ObservationOfTheDay
April 17, 2025 at 9:00 PM
CHONKY BOI
#wormwednesday
#wormwednesday
New worms for #WormWednesday!
[New Paper] @zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social reports three capitellid polychaetes from Indian Ocean deep-sea hot vents, two of them described as new species! Phylogenetic analysis reveals two independent origins of capitellids in chemosynthetic ecosystems.
FREE ACCESS: academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
FREE ACCESS: academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
June 16, 2025 at 9:47 AM
New worms for #WormWednesday!
#wormwednesday encore!
It's #wormwednesday again. Here's an amazing Aglaophamus macrura (Nephtyidae) ejecting its jaws out. This behavior is used for feeding and burrowing. Scary and amazing species! Seen and captured in Antarctica in continental shelf waters. 🧪🐧🦑🌎🇦🇶🧬
July 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM
#wormwednesday encore!
April 23, 2026 at 6:06 PM
Candy striped Flatworm (Prostheceraeus vittatus) and its prey the lightbulb sea squirt (Clavelina lepadiformis) at Strangford Lough
#flatworm
#flatworm
July 16, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Scientists first collected a pig butt worm from the dark ocean depths near Monterey, California. The size of marbles, pigbutts are a near complete mystery. Officially described in 2007, scientists aren’t even sure if the pigbutt form is an adult, or just a very very awkward adolescent stage.
February 13, 2025 at 2:42 AM
One more for #WormWednesday 🦑🐙
Excited to share that my gossamer worm photo won the Best Image Award at the 5th Marine Imaging Workshop in Monterey!
Many thanks to the wonderful folks at MBARI on the local organizing committee, the wider MIW community, and Boxfish Robotics for sponsoring the competition.
🧪🐙🦑🐡
Many thanks to the wonderful folks at MBARI on the local organizing committee, the wider MIW community, and Boxfish Robotics for sponsoring the competition.
🧪🐙🦑🐡
January 16, 2025 at 12:35 AM
One more for #WormWednesday 🦑🐙
August 5, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Look at this absolute beaut paddleworm Phyllodoce medipapillata.
How cute is that face?
And the beautiful luminescent shimmer on the body. Small but mighty.
📷Alex Heyman via iNaturalist
#NoVERMber
How cute is that face?
And the beautiful luminescent shimmer on the body. Small but mighty.
📷Alex Heyman via iNaturalist
#NoVERMber
June 11, 2025 at 6:18 PM