14 DAY TRIAL // Remains of a deep-sea worm that was last spotted back in 1873, when it was identified as a self-standing species dubbed Glandiceps abyssicola, have recently been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean, not far from South America.
Specialists say that these worms live at the bottom of the ocean, and feed on detritus, i.e. non-living particulate organic matter.
Every once in a while, the worms also eat sediment, researchers who have had the chance to examine them explain.
“They are like little factories for digesting organic matter,” researcher Karon Osborn commented on the worms' diet, as cited by LiveScience.
The same source tells us that, unlike many other marine species, these worms are highly fragile. Thus, they disintegrate fairly quickly, and this explains why sightings are few and far in between.
Because of the acorn cap-like proboscis growing on their bodies, these creatures and others similar to them are sometimes referred to as acorn worms.