New Species of Spoon-Shaped Worm Discovered in Japan

A team of Japanese biologists has discovered a new species of a bizarre spoon-shaped worm on a sandy tidal flat named Hachi-no-Higata of the Seto Inland Sea, Japan.

The new species "Aryhynchite Hayaoi" derives its name from its elongated spoon-like projection coming from the barrel like roundish trunk that is similar in shape to a sweet potato.

Spoon worms, scientifically known as Echiura, are marine animals that do not have a distinct respiratory system and absorb oxygen through the body wall. They mainly reside in shallow waters and only a few are connected with deep sea waters. Till date nearly 230 species have been described. Most of the spoon worms are deposit feeders. They use their spoon to gather organic matter or particles from the area surrounding them.

Generally, Euchiurans have a large flattened proboscis i,e. spoon like projection coming from their head. But the new species has a very bizarre spoon-shaped proboscis.

The newly discovered species is a pinkish-yellow colored animal grows to the length of 10 cm.  Initially, the researchers confused the newly discovered species with another species known as Thalassema Owstoni Ikeda. The new species Archynchite Hayaoi was abundant and was collected in large numbers from the intertidal to subtidal sandy bottoms as fish bait in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan. But the population of Archynchite Hayaoi is declining at an alarming rate.

The finding by Dr Masaatsu Tanaka and Dr Teruaki Nishikawa from Toho University, Chiba, has been described in the journal Zookeys.