The white peanut worm and its ilk are so bizarre looking that, when they make rare appearances above ground, people often believe they’ve found an organism new to science.
They are known as sipunculan worms, so different from actual worms – or from anything else – that most scientists place them in their own phylum, one step below kingdoms (such as animals and plants).
And these are ancient organisms; their pedigree goes back hundreds of millions of years, far longer than dinosaurs. They might even be the first creatures to develop a chamber inside the body to hold internal organs.
These creatures process sand, stripping it of food particles and leaving the sand that passes through their bodies clean. They can be found in the deep ocean and in Arctic as well as tropical habitats, though most species live in coastal waters.
One end of the creature is topped with a ring of branching tentacles, which, when they are pulled inside the body, cause it to collapse into something that looks like a peanut.
The white peanut worm, which sometimes washes up on shore, is typically 3-4 inches long but can grow up to 10 inches.
Apparently humans aren’t the only ones who find these creatures worth extra attention. One local scientist reports that, while out on a research boat, he watched two dolphins tossing a sipunculan back and forth. He was able to retrieve the creature, taking it home to an aquarium tank where it promptly vanished beneath the sand and remained contentedly for years.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or pbrennan@ocregister.com
