I'm crazy about the ocean so I couldn't resist this piece of news. A new species of marine worm found off the Swedish coast has been named "bone-eating snot-flower" or Osedax mucofloris. This is one rare case in which the Latin name trumps the English. Can't the Swedes come up with a better name? Say like pink-palm-tree-of-the-north-sea? Some scientist must have really been plastered one cold winter night, proof of the benefits of not drinking. Anyhow, this tube worm uses specialised bacteria inside its roots to break down the oil stored in the dead whale bone to release energy. Amazing!
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
"Bone-eating snot-flower" worm named
I'm crazy about the ocean so I couldn't resist this piece of news. A new species of marine worm found off the Swedish coast has been named "bone-eating snot-flower" or Osedax mucofloris. This is one rare case in which the Latin name trumps the English. Can't the Swedes come up with a better name? Say like pink-palm-tree-of-the-north-sea? Some scientist must have really been plastered one cold winter night, proof of the benefits of not drinking. Anyhow, this tube worm uses specialised bacteria inside its roots to break down the oil stored in the dead whale bone to release energy. Amazing!
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