Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
Rare giant shipworms were found in the waters of Mindanao in the southern Philippines by a group of scientists from the US, France and the Philippines.
According to an article published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on April 17, five live specimens of the creature, formally known as Kuphus polythamia, were collected and sent to the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, where they were dissected.
Kuphus polythamia is technically a bivalve, or a marine mollusk without a head. Clams, oysters and scallops also belong to the bivalve family, along with Teredinidae, which are smaller shipworms.
Scientists said the giant shipworm was “among the most infrequently observed and least understood of extant bivalves.” According to the journal, the creatures can reach around 61 inches (155 centimeters) in length and two inches (six centimeters) in diameter, are encased in a hard shell created from body secretions, and feed on marine sediments and mud rather than rotting wood, unlike the smaller members of the shipworm family, the BBC reported.
This footage shows researchers removing the shipworm from its shell.
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