Oh snap! The strange worms of the ocean make a racket when they growl

Squishy worms are usually rather calm creatures. The water worms Leocratides kimuraorum discovered off the coast of Japan have a soft body, but they carry a shocking slam.

The researchers collected specimens, brought them back to a laboratory and found out how much noise they could make by fighting each other.

Marine biologist Ryutaro Goto of Kyoto University, Japan co-authored an article on these unusual verses in the journal Current Biology. Its title is catchy: remarkably strong shots during a fight between a worm and a sponge.

You can hear the verses by yourself in a video shared by Science Magazine. The two worms fight each other's mouths and make a dull noise during the confrontation.

Scientists have stated that the sounds of worms are comparable to those produced by shrimp capture, "which is one of the most intense biological sounds measured in the sea". What is curious is how these soft worms make such a big noise.

Researchers suggest that worms use a method of muscle contraction, indicating that "this allows for an extremely rapid expansion of the pharynx in the body of the worm during the strike, which produces an intense sound (probably by cavitation) and a surge of blood. fast water ". Cavitation is the formation of a bubble, which is the same way that slamming shrimp generate their loud sounds.

These worms and their underwater rumblings remain "an intriguing biomechanical puzzle that suggests a new type of extreme biology," the scientists said in this article.

This is just one more reason why the ocean is a magical place.