What is this green creature with a pink appendage that horrified some on Internet?
(Photo: YouTube)
SEATTLE -- Fishermen in Taiwan recently caught this "monster" and posted a video of it online last week, which, of course, went viral as viewers were amazed and horrified by its odd look.
Well, National Geographic contacted John Norenburg, chairman of invertebrate zoology at the Smithsonian's National History Museum in Washington, D.C., to find an answer.
It's a type of ribbon worm called Lineus fuscoviridis, he said.
It's harmless, fairly common in tropical coastal waters and ranges from Japan to the Philippines, he told the magazine.
So what's the pink thing?
It's a tongue-like organ that can shoot out to capture prey, Norenburg said, adding that the worm will then eat its victim whole -- victims such as clams, sea slugs or another worm. No humans.
Norenburg said its "tongue" in this video was was probably part of a last-ditch defense by the animal after sensing it was out of water.
"The mucus is drying just the way saliva dries in a person’s mouth in the absence of adequate moisture," he told National Geographic.
So, planning to go swimming in any tropical waters from Japan to the Philippines?