Ever wondered how much you have grown up since school days spent drawing phallic objects on your friend’s homework? Then feast your eyes upon this deep-sea ‘peanut worm’.
That’s right, peanut.
A team of Australian researchers from the Museums Victoria, have just come back from a month-long expedition on board research vessel ‘The Investigator’ with a somewhat interesting catch.
Last month they revealed they had caught a faceless fish that hadn’t been seen by humans since the nineteenth century, and that seemed pretty cool.
But the faceless fish has been put in the shade by the latest find, located a huge 4,000 metres below the waves, the peculiar sea creature has been named the ‘peanut worm’.
But we think the deep-sea dweller bears a more striking resemblance to a slightly different object. And we’re not the only ones.
According to the team (who definitely know a lot more about these things than we do) the name comes from the fact that when threatened these animals can contract their head inward and “resemble a peanut”.
Come on guys, you’re not doing yourselves any favours here.
They can also produce sexually and asexually (which is probably necessary if they keep retracting in fear).
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Speaking about the expedition, Dr Tim O’Hara, Chief Scientist, said: “Australia’s deep sea environment is larger in size than the mainland, and until now, almost nothing was known about life on the abyssal plain.
“We’re really excited about the discoveries that we’ve made and are thrilled that we can now share them with the Australian and international public.”
During their trip, the scientists also estimated the levels of pollution on the sea floor, O’Hara said: “We have found highly concerning levels of rubbish on the seafloor. We’re 100 kilometres off Australia’s coast, and have found PVC pipes, cans of paints, bottles, beer cans, wood chips, and other debris from the days when steamships plied our waters.
“The seafloor has 200 years of rubbish on it. Hopefully information such as this is the first step in influencing social attitudes towards rubbish disposal.”
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