Osedax mucofloris

Osedax mucofloris
Osedax mucofloris
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Polychaeta
Order: Sabellida
Family: Siboglinidae
Genus: Osedax
Rouse et al., 2004[1]
Species: O. mucofloris
Binomial name
Osedax mucofloris

Osedax mucofloris is a species of bathypelagic Polychaetes that is reported to sustain itself on the bones of dead whales.[2][3][4] Translated from the mixed Greek and Latin used in scientific names, "Osedax mucofloris" literally means "bone-eating snot-flower".[2][4]

In popular culture

Osedax mucofloris was a plot device in the Bones episode The Shallow in the Deep, helping to prove that one of the skeletons was much more recent than the others found in a sunken slave ship.

References

  1. ^ G. W. Rouse, S. K. Goffredi, and R. C. Vrijenhoek (2004). "Osedax: Bone-Eating Marine Worms with Dwarf Males". Science 305: 668–671. doi:10.1126/science.1098650. PMID 15286372. 
  2. ^ a b "'Zombie worms' found off Sweden". BBC News. 18 October 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4354286.stm. Retrieved 12 February 2010. 
  3. ^ World-wide whale worms? A new species of Osedax from the shallow north Atlantic. National Center for Biotechnology Information. 22 December 2005. PMC 1559975. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1559975. 
  4. ^ a b "North Sea marine worm discovered". Natural History Museum. 19 October 2005. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2005/oct/news_6888.html. Retrieved 13 February 2010. 

External links


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