There are over 1,000 species of ribbon worms found around the world.
A video showing a strange ability of an insect is making headlines on social media. In one clip, a man is seen tapping on the body of the “alien-like” species and within seconds it pulls out a tree-like structure. While the clip may disgust some users, others found it “cool and creepy” at the same time. The species in question is a ribbon worm, very thin and only a few millimeters wide. Many have patterns of yellow, orange, red and green.
The worm in the video posted on Twitter shows a red colored worm, which looks like a jelly. There is a small black dot on its face.
The worm tries to escape from the man’s tap by moving around, but after 4-5 attempts, it spits out the bizarre tree-like structure.
Possibly one of the most ‘alien-like’ species, the ribbon worm spits a living, tree-like proboscis to hunt its prey
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[📹 https://t.co/yE6Sa2sz64]pic.twitter.com/s71zUbNkvH– Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 14, 2023
The 8-second clip posted on Twitter has left users stunned. One of them remarked, “This is what nightmares are made of.” “Doesn’t it look so unsightly? How could anyone let it crawl up your arm?” Tweeted one more.
According to smithsonian magazine, This structure is made up of proboscis, which is a unique muscular structure inside the body of the worm. When attacking prey, it compresses its body to push the proboscis out, like the fingers of a latex glove turning in and out.
The magazine also stated that there are more than 1,000 species of ribbon worms found worldwide, most of which are found in the ocean.
The outlet also said that the species of ribbon worm is the bootless worm, which can be found crawling between rocks in the waters of the North Sea.
They belong to the Nemertia phylum, which includes mainly free-living forms, but also some parasites of crustaceans, molluscs, and sea squirts.
Smithsonian Magazine states that ribbon insects have highly developed muscles that allow them to contract their bodies, shrinking to one-tenth of their extended length when they are threatened.
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