Osedax mucofloris Glover, Kallstrom, Smith & Dahlgren 2005

Osedax worms are marine polychaete annelid worms They belong to the family Siboglinidae, closely related to deep sea vent/seep-associated vestimentiferan worms. They share a recent common ancestor with the giant hydrothermal vent tubeworm (Riftia pachyptila), raising the possibility that the ancestors of these species switched from hydrothermal vents to whale bones.

Osedax mucofloris is the third Osedax species described and the first known from the Atlantic Ocean. It was discovered and described in 2005 by Glover et. al (2) from an experimentally deposited carcass of a Minke whale at a depth of 125 m in the Swedish North Sea. The worm has also been collected in the North Sea from submerged pilot whale bones at a depth of 30 m and Minke whale bones at a depth of 125 m (4). The first specimen discovered appeared as a pink, flower-like plume growing straight out of the side of the bones. By dissecting these plumes out of the bones, the scientists discovered that the other half of the animal (the ‘root’) was buried inside the bone, presumably extracting food from it. The females are fixed in one place and bore into the bones of whale carcasses and possibly those of other vertebrates (1-3). O. mucofloris extends out of the whale bone into the seawater. Its feathered plumes are the gills, or branchiae, and bring oxygen down to the root structure embedded in the whale bone. A cylinder-shaped columnar oviduct extends furthest into the water column. Scientists think it shoots fertilised eggs into the water column and may help the animal disperse tiny larvae, which are carried off by ocean currents. It is possible that intensive whaling over the last 300 years has reduced the available habitat for this worm