Ugh, This Worm Video Is So Gross, I Hate It, Don't Click (Not Joking)
Hey man, it’s your life, but I’m like a professional internet person and I thought this was pretty gnarly. Maybe you already saw it on Reddit or something, in which case the damage is done, but if not, just do yourself a favorite and watch this instead:
Still here? Okay, here’s the gross worm video but I absolutely warned you:
Awful, right? According to The Daily Dot, the horrible thing you’re seeing is a ribbon worm and the horrible thing it’s doing is everting its proboscis.
Reddit user exxocet identified the ribbon worm as belonging to the family Gorgonorhynchidae, known for their branching proboscises. From the 1931 Nature article A New and Peculiar Marine Nemertean from the Australian Coast:
During eversion, which takes place almost explosively, the short main trunk first appears, then this divides and the finer and finer branches appear, but since each one of these is the result of an evagination the effect is almost indescribable. It is as if a large number of lively, wriggling, minute worms had been shot out. The tip of the animal is like a gorgon’s head.
Now you know, I guess. Doesn’t really make it any better, does it?
[Image via YouTube]