Shark teeth proved to be suitable food for zombie worms
Scientists from the US have found that zombie sea worms survived at depth thanks to the teeth of sharks. About it informs New Scientist.
Deep-sea marine worms Osedax, also known as zombie worms, were first discovered in 2002 on the seafloor on whale carcasses. These are small worms with unusual pink gills. Previously it was thought that they only feed on the skeletons of whales and fish with a bone skeleton, because their main food is collagen, which at such a depth can only be found in bones sinking to the bottom. However, now it became known that in the absence of whales, the teeth and jaws of sharks turned out to be suitable food for them.
California marine biologists Greg Rouse and Shana Goffredi conducted an experiment: they lowered the jaws of three common sharks in these waters into Monterey Bay, to a depth of about a thousand meters. When, eight months later, they brought the containers with the jaws to the surface, there were only 40 teeth left, the jaws completely disappeared. At the same time, two different types of Osedax worms were found in 10 teeth, which climbed inside through the base of the tooth in search of collagen-rich dentin.
Researching whether worms have another source of collagen was a logical step. We knew that the cartilaginous skeleton of a shark is also rich in collagen and that they are older than fish with a bone skeleton.
Zombie worms do not have a mouth or digestive system. Bacteria living inside them help them absorb and process collagen. To extract it from the bone tissue, zombie worms secrete a special acid.
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Earlier it was reported that in the US state of Nevada, an invasion of Mormon crickets, which are known for practicing cannibalism, began. Clouds of insects have forced many residents of the state to lock themselves in their homes.
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