{"id":129360,"date":"2024-11-24T01:10:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T18:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=129360"},"modified":"2024-11-24T01:10:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T18:10:43","slug":"green-spoonworm-the-female-tentacle-monsters-that-turn-males-into-living-testicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=129360","title":{"rendered":"Green spoonworm: The female tentacle monsters that turn males into &#8216;living testicles&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\" id=\"article-body\">\n<p><strong>Name:<\/strong> Green spoonworm (<em>Bonellia viridis<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where it lives:<\/strong> Seabeds in the northeast Atlantic, from the Mediterranean to northern Norway<\/p>\n<aside class=\"hawk-nest\" data-block-type=\"embed\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\"\/>\n<p><strong>What it eats:<\/strong> Organic matter filtered from the water and small invertebrates.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it<\/strong>&#8216;<strong>s awesome:<\/strong> Green spoonworms are named for their spoon-shaped proboscis \u2014 a long,sucking mouthpart used for feeding \u2014 which stretches out into the water to catch food floating by.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They basically look like a tentacle monster from a sci-fi film,&#8221; <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moreforsk.no\/contact\/staff\/1156\/0\/?user=569\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.moreforsk.no\/contact\/staff\/1156\/0\/?user=569\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>Trond Roger Oskars<\/u><\/a>, a research scientist specializing in marine invertebrates at M\u00f8reforsking Research Institute, told Live Science in an email.<\/p>\n<p>The rest of their thick, sausage-shaped body remains buried in the seafloor \u2014 sometimes in burrows created by other animals \u2014 while their ribbon-like proboscis flutters in the water to fish for tiny pieces of organic matter to eat, including algae, rotten materials and even poop. &#8220;They&#8217;re like vacuum cleaners sweeping over the ocean floor,&#8221; Oskars said.<\/p>\n<p>While green spoonworms&#8217; bodies are around 6 or 7 inches (15 to 18 centimeters) long, &#8220;that wavy proboscis can extend up to 10 times longer,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-MukWdu6Kqd4j4HLcRPXh4M\" class=\"slice-container newsletter-inbodyContent-slice newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-MukWdu6Kqd4j4HLcRPXh4M slice-container-newsletterForm\">\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" class=\"newsletter-form__wrapper newsletter-form__wrapper--inbodyContent\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form__container\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__top-bar\"\/>\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__main-section\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Get the world\u2019s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Their iconic bright green color, which comes from a toxic pigment called bonellin, warns predators to stay away. But not all green spoonworms look like this. &#8220;Here&#8217;s the twist!&#8221; Oskars said. &#8220;The green specimens you see are only the females.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The sex of an individual relies on chemistry rather than genetics. If a larva floats through the ocean and settles on the seafloor, it develops into a female. But if a larva lands on a female, it reacts to the bonellin in her body and turns into a male. Like some species of <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/animals\/fish\/anglerfish-entered-the-midnight-zone-55-million-years-ago-and-thrived-by-becoming-sexual-parasites\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/animals\/fish\/anglerfish-entered-the-midnight-zone-55-million-years-ago-and-thrived-by-becoming-sexual-parasites\"><u>anglerfish<\/u><\/a>, these males are microscopic and are absorbed into her body, becoming a parasite with the sole purpose of fertilizing her eggs. &#8220;It&#8217;s basically reduced to a living testicle,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: <\/strong><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/animals\/parasitic-provider-of-sperm-on-tap-why-the-sex-lives-of-deep-sea-creatures-demand-extreme-solutions\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/animals\/parasitic-provider-of-sperm-on-tap-why-the-sex-lives-of-deep-sea-creatures-demand-extreme-solutions\"><u><strong>&#8216;Parasitic provider of sperm on-tap&#8217;: Why the sex lives of deep sea creatures demand extreme solutions<\/strong><\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As well as protecting spoonworms from predators and turning males into living gonads, bonellin kills bacteria. &#8220;It is being targeted as a potential new antibiotic but may have a whole host of other interesting uses,&#8221; Oskars said. &#8220;They are a prime example of why we need to know more about weird creatures and their habitats\u2026 We know only 10% of the species in the ocean, who knows what other creatures are hiding that have additional benefits?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/animals\/green-spoonworm-the-female-tentacle-monsters-that-turn-males-into-living-testicles\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Name: Green spoonworm (Bonellia viridis) Where it lives: Seabeds in the northeast Atlantic, from the Mediterranean to northern Norway What it eats: Organic matter filtered from the water and small &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=129360\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}