Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/sabellida

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Osedax mucofloris

Species of annelid worm

Summary

Species of annelid worm

Osedax mucofloris is a species of bathypelagic Polychaetes that is reported to sustain itself on the bones of dead whales. Translated from the mixed Greek and Latin used in scientific names, Osedax mucofloris literally means "snot-flower bone-eater", though the less-accurate "bone-eating snot-flower worm" seems to be the form actually used. The species is found in North East Atlantic where it is abundant. Although the patterns and mechanisms of this piercing, known as boring, is poorly understood, there is evidence that Osedax mucofloris have acidic mucopolysaccharides in the mucus of their root tissues that aids in the mechanism of boring through bones.

References

References

  1. Read, G.. (2012). "''Osedax mucofloris'' Glover, Kallstrom, Smith & Dahlgren, 2005".
  2. (October 18, 2005). "'Zombie worms' found off Sweden". [[BBC News]].
  3. (2005). "World-wide whale worms? A new species of Osedax from the shallow north Atlantic". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
  4. (19 October 2005). "North Sea marine worm discovered". [[Natural History Museum, London.
  5. (2025-04-20). "The Potent Respiratory System of Osedax mucofloris (Siboglinidae, Annelida) - A Prerequisite for the Origin of Bone-Eating Osedax?". PLOS ONE.
  6. (December 2011). "Bone-Boring Worms: Characterizing the Morphology, Rate, and Method of Bioerosion by Osedax mucofloris (Annelida, Siboglinidae)". Biological Bulletin.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

sabellida
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Osedax mucofloris — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report