Zombies are real, and they’re living at the bottom of the ocean. Don’t worry though, they’re not coming for your brains. They’re only a few inches long and they actually prefer bones.
Scientists discovered tiny marine worms from the genus Osedax inside the bones of a gray whale corpse on the sea floor in 2002. Today, there are five different species of the so-called “zombie worms” or “boneworms” in the World Register of Marine Species.
The worms live on the fats found in the bones of deceased creatures. They’ve been found chowing down on fish carcasses, and even the bones of colonized cow bones dumped from a ship.
Their method of eating is pretty weird. Osedax worms lack a mouth or stomach, so they secrete an acid from their skin that dissolves the bone. Bacteria living in the worms’ bodies digest the proteins and fats inside.
They keep themselves from drifting away in the current by drilling into the bone with roots that contain the bacteria and then letting their feathery plumes drift out into the water. The plumes act like gills, pulling oxygen from the surrounding seawater. Scientists found that when they disturbed the worms, the plumes were retracted back into their bodies.
It gets weirder; only the female zombie worms can be found partaking in a marrow meal. That’s because the males are microscopic, and live – by the dozens – inside the bodies of the females.
One study found more than 100 males living in the body of a single, 3-inch-long female, which certainly simplifies the mating process! Females drop fertilized eggs far and wide, in hopes they’ll land near a pile of bones.
