Thousands of the penis-shaped creatures washed up in California following a fierce bomb cyclone. 9News
The bulbous worms can live their entire lives underground, holed up in u-shaped burrows beneath the wet sand along the California coast.
Mr Parr said the worms were likely spooked out of their burrows by powerful storms that hit Drakes Beach around Thanksgiving. The storms dumped almost three centimetres of rain in the area. The rare ancient animal washed up in northern California in the thousands following a fierce bomb cyclone."Strong storms - especially during El Niño years - are perfectly capable of laying siege to the intertidal zone, breaking apart the sediment, and leaving their contents stranded on the shore."
Two previous mass strandings, one in 2010 and the other in 2016, both hit during El Niño weather events, which is characterised by warmer-than-average waters that routinely bring with them more rain to California.While they're colloquially known as "penis fish" among biologists and the public, the innkeeper worm earned their name for temporarily housing smaller creatures in their burrows, with little conflict.
Pea crabs, clams and the tiny arrow goby fish often share space with the worm and eat the food it discards.The worms are considered a delicacy in South Korea.As they live primarily underground, quantifying innkeeper worm populations is difficult, Mr Parr said.- WITH CNN
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