Osedax worms, or the 'bone eating' worms are little soft sacks resembling snotty little flowers. The "bone devourer" is now quite accurate as the worms do not actually feed on the bone mineral, but rather the fats within the bone matrix. It just the Osedax females that do the feeding ... and have no mouth, anus, or gut. The females extend roots into the bones to tap the fats within. With roots to delve into the bone, a trunk of main body, and a crown of reparatory organs extending from the trunk, the flower moniker is appropriate. Perhaps that's why one of the first named species got the Latin name of Osedax mucofloris, literally bone-devouring, mucus flower. The males? Female Osedax worms have harems of dwarf males, up to 114 in one species, that inhabit her trunk.
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Categories: Biology; Evolution; Genetics; New Research; New Species; Organisms; Scientist!; Seeps, Vent, & Whale Falls;