Worm Moving Under Frozen Lake Resembles a Tube Worm

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“I have rediscovered this worm-like mystery from a few years ago and thought maybe you could help!” states this reader in her submission regarding the long, brownish worm-like organism pictured below. “We live in Germany and we’re walking by a lake on a cold day in February when we spotted this creature under the ice; it was wriggling and moving and most definitely alive. Any ideas? Thank you!” Firstly, we must say that this worm is very odd-looking: we have never seen a worm with these markings, not to mention the bursting, bush-like thing at one end of its body. Secondly, we also have to point out the mysterious circumstances under which our reader discovered the worm; it is not every day you find a worm in a frozen lake.

On that note, given that this worm was found in a lake, we would assume that it is a marine worm. A marine worm is any species of worm that primarily lives in an aquatic habitat. There are thousands of species of marine worms, and we are excited to see a reader submit a question about one as we do not often get to cover them. Now, since this worm was found under ice in a frozen lake, we would have to assume that it is a type of marine worm that would be able to survive in such harsh temperatures. That said, a lot of species of marine worms are quite hardy, since they do tend to be able to survive at great depths, where it is naturally very cold.

One such marine worm is a tube worm, which this worm resembles (particularly the bushy end). Tube worms are annelids, meaning they belong to a phylum of worms characterized by their segmented, bilaterally-symmetrical bodies, and there are over 100 different species of they. They can live at depths up to 33,000 feet, and because of this, they have a natural resistance to cold temperatures, which would explain how this worm is surviving below ice. That said, they tend to stick to depths of at least 300 feet, so it is strange our reader saw this worm at this depth. Additionally, tube worms live in what are called ‘aggregations’, which is a cluster of worms – they do not typically live apart from the aggregation and swim on their own. For these reasons, we are inclined to say that this might not be a tube worm after all. But in that case, we have no idea what else it could be: we have never seen anything like this.

In conclusion, we are not entirely sure what this worm is, though it resembles a tube worm separated from its aggregation. If any of our other readers have any ideas as to what this could be, they are welcome to share them in the comments section below! We hope nonetheless that our reader finds something informative in this article and we wish her the very best!

 

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Summary
Worm Moving Under Frozen Lake Resembles a Tube Worm
Article Name
Worm Moving Under Frozen Lake Resembles a Tube Worm
Description
"I have rediscovered this worm-like mystery from a few years ago and thought maybe you could help!" states this reader in her submission regarding the long, brownish worm-like organism pictured below. "We live in Germany and we’re walking by a lake on a cold day in February when we spotted this creature under the ice; it was wriggling and moving and most definitely alive. Any ideas? Thank you!" Firstly, we must say that this worm is very odd-looking: we have never seen a worm with these markings, not to mention the bursting, bush-like thing at one end of its body. Secondly, we also have to point out the mysterious circumstances under which our reader discovered the worm; it is not every day you find a worm in a frozen lake.
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Author: Worm Researcher Anton

1 thought on “Worm Moving Under Frozen Lake Resembles a Tube Worm

  1. Exciting development in the worm mystery! A friend has identified it as Piscicola geometra which is a species of leech..and in the video in fact it has leech like movements, which I didn’t mention here..

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