A worm like no other

This is a worm? This photograph of the newly named worm shows its mouth, which typically faces downward as the animal drifts about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) below the ocean surface. It sounds like a junior high school riddle—"What lives 3,000 feet below the ocean surface, is about the size of a marble, and looks like the back side of a pig?" MBARI marine biologists have pondering this riddle for years, having seen a number of these strange, round organisms during deep dives in Monterey Canyon. MBARI biologist Karen Osborn and her co-workers recently came up with an answer to this riddle by combining modern DNA analysis with traditional methods of scientific observation. What they discovered was a new species of deep-sea worm, but a worm like no other. In a recent scientific paper, they gave this little creature a Latin name: Chaetopterus pugaporcinus. Image: Karen Osborn (c) 2006 MBARI