A male Osedax priapus, or bone worm.
In a new study published in the Dec. 11 issue of
Current Biology, marine biologist Greg Rouse at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and his collaborators reported a new twist to the Osedax story,
revealing an evolutionary oddity unlike any other in the animal kingdom. Rouse's collaborators included Nerida Wilson (formerly based at Scripps and now at the Western Australian Museum), Katrine Worsaae of the University of Copenhagen, and Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
Examining bone worms collected at 700 meters (2,296 feet) depth by an MBARI remotely operated vehicle, Rouse observed a surprising new type of Osedax species. Females of the new species are roughly the same size as their previously studied relatives, but males are
tens of thousands of times larger than those of other Osedax worms, and are roughly the same size as the females.
Comment: There seems to be an increasing number of
bizarre,
odd (perhaps even mutated species), previously
unknown and
mysterious creatures being discovered recently, together with increases in abnormal animal and marine behavior also. All over the world such '
strange' and '
unusual' incidents are quickly becoming the norm, as are
mass fish die offs this year too.
Are these more 'signs of the times'? If so, what do they mean?
The fact remains that there is a lot of hard evidence suggesting that, far from 'global warming', we're already in the process of entering a new ice age (which could end up being a lot bigger than the last one), accompanied by increasing cataclysmic activity such as major destructive storms, earthquakes, and volcanism, among other 'anomalous' goings-on all over the planet. So no wonder the animals are behaving strangely. Maybe they're trying to tell us something important. The question is, is anyone listening?
Creatures from the deep signal major Earth Changes: Is anyone paying attention?
Comment: Similar reports: Bird deaths in Moscow spark 'zombie pigeon' scare
Over 500 pigeons drop dead in Bihar village, India