Strangest Invertebrate Ever
Description:
Gorgonorhynchus repens. Up to 50mm unstretched, this species is unusual in having a long sticky proboscis consisting of many tubes that’s shot out when the worm is picked up. When the proboscis is everted, it looks very like a terebellid polychaete worm.
Found at Long Reef, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Nemertine worms are also called boot-lace or ribbon worms because of their shape. They are voracious carnivores usually eating living prey but also able to feed on dead fragments. They feed by shooting out a very long thin proboscis which is either sticky or has poisonous hooks. The prey is entangled in the proboscis and drawn towards the worm’s mouth. The body wall musculature of nemerteans is not well developed and when picked up they can stretch to many times their original length.
