Bone-Eating Snot-Flower Worm

The scientific name for the bone-eating snot-flower worm is osedax mucofloris.  Despite knowing this, I still have no idea what this is and even the word flower in the name isn't enough to reassure me that it isn't something disgusting, but, thanks to my husband for suggesting this as a blog topic and Google for my go to research source, here goes…

The bone-eating snot-flower worm is an annelid worm that was discovered in 2005 by scientists and marine biologists in Sweden. A big hint to the worm’s habitat is its discovery by marine biologists. So, readers in St. Mary’s, you (and I today) are off the hook as far as running into a bone-eating snot-flower worm. Friends on Andros near the tongue of the ocean have a much better chance of coming near a bone-eating snot-flower worm and that’s because, to date, osedax mucofloris has only been found on 2 whale carcasses in the Swedish fjord Kosterfjord but could be widespread in the Atlantic. Since bone-eating snot-flower worms have so far only been found living on the bones of dead marine mammals, specifically the bones of whales, the likelihood of coming in contact with the worm is possible, though whale bones might be hard to locate due to the size of the Atlantic.

That leaves the one reassuring thing about this worm and it simply is that the part of it that sticks out of the bone (the rest of the worm is burrowing into the bone seeking sustenance) does look like a flower, much nicer than the image evoked by its name.