Green Boneworm Showing Roots (IMAGE)

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Green Boneworm Showing Roots

Caption

This photograph shows a female of an as yet unnamed boneworm in the genus Osedax, which has been carefully removed from the whale bone in which it was growing. This worm has green, feathery palps, which extract oxygen from seawater. At its lower end are an ovisac and bulbous "roots," which would normally be embedded in the whale bone.

Credit

© 2009 Greg Rouse

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