Ferocious ‘penis worms’ were the hermit crabs of the ancient seas


Nov 7, 2021

The Cambrian (543-490 million years ago) brought about the first major explosion of biodiversity. Earth, Virtually all modern animal ancestors first appeared. One of the most feared of them was the penis worm.

Technically known as the Priapulida — named after Priapus, the blessed god of the male reproductive organs in Greece — the penis worm, as is commonly known, has been around the world for 500 million years. It is a division of marine worms that survived in the sea. Their modern offspring live almost invisible in deep, muddy burrows in the water, occasionally astonishing fishermen with their floppy penis-shaped bodies.

https://www.livescience.com/penis-wo...shell-behavior