Godzilla's terrifying foe has the same name as a curious marine worm.

This odd invertebrate spends the vast majority of its existence within a sponge.

 

A newly discovered branched sea worm species has been revealed to have dozens of regeneration tails that break off and swim away during reproduction. In honour of Godzilla's huge multiheaded foe, King Ghidorah, the creature was given this wacky superpower as a moniker.

 

Twenty-five of the new worms, dubbed Ramisyllis kingghidorahi after the wicked kaiju, were discovered in Japanese sea sponges in October 2019. Unlike their namesake, R. kingghidorahi has only one head but many posterior branches that grow to fill out tiny tubes inside their 2 to 4 inch (5 to 10 cm) long host sponges.

 

Each reproductive stolon travels to the water's surface, where it sheds its sperm or eggs into the surrounding water, and the sperm or eggs fertilise. The stolons perish, but the worms are safe within their sponge hosts, where they can regrow the severed portions of the branches for the next generation.

 

"The fictitious King Ghidorah tree can grow new tips after they've been cut off." That's why we deemed it fitting to give this branching worm species the name "Kaiju." Maria Teresa Aguado, a marine invertebrate evolutionary researcher from the University of Göttingen in Germany, is the study's corresponding author.

 

Discovering R. kingghidorahi marked the discovery of only the third species of branching sea worm. Syllis ramosa, the first member of this genus, was found in the Philippines in 1879. The second species, Ramisyllis multicaudata, was discovered in 2006 in northern Australia and given its scientific name in 2012. It belongs to the same genus as R. kingghidorahi. According to a study published in May 2021, R. multicaudata can have up to 100 forks, as was previously reported by Live Science.

 

S. ramosa inhabits deep-sea glass sponges, whereas both species of Ramisyllis prefer shallow-water stone sponges as their homes. The experts believe that there are yet more branched sea worms waiting to be found. Finding secretive invertebrates can be difficult because they spend the vast bulk of their life hidden within their spongy hosts.

 

We were shocked to discover another one of these strange critters, "Aguado added. She also noted that the genetic differences between R. kingghidorahi and R. multicaudata—which share a common ancestor—show far more diversity among branched sea worms than previously believed.

 

Scientists are keen to learn more about the peculiar and unexplained bond between worms and their sponges.

 

Aguado said that we don't know how the worm is connected to its host sponge. It might be symbiotic, in which case both the worm and the sponge would benefit, or parasitic, in which case only the worm would gain anything.

 

Scientists don't understand how the worms can find enough food in the sponges to keep up with their high metabolic needs as they grow their networks and replace broken limbs.

 

Organismal Diversity & Evolution released the study online on January 19th.

Reference : https://www.livescience.com/new-king-ghidorah-worm-discovered

Image source : https://pixabay.com/id/vectors/pantai-liburan-musim-panas-tropis-310047/

Godzilla's terrifying foe has the same name as a curious marine worm.