Osedax japonicus
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| Osedax japonicus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Annelida |
| Clade: | Pleistoannelida |
| Clade: | Sedentaria |
| Order: | Sabellida |
| Family: | Siboglinidae |
| Genus: | Osedax |
| Species: | O. japonicus |
| Binomial name | |
| Osedax japonicus | |
Osedax japonicus is a species of bathypelagic polychaete tube worm that lives at great depths on the seabed and is able to sustain itself on the bones of a dead whale. It was first described in 2006 from a sunken sperm whale carcase near Kyushu, Japan.
Scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute using the submarine ROV Tiburon first discovered worms of the genus Osedax in Monterey Bay, California, in February 2002. The worms were found living on the bones of a decaying gray whale in the Monterey Canyon, at a depth of 2,893 m (9,491 ft).[2] The discovery caused great excitement among marine biologists, and since then other species of worms of the same genus have been discovered on whale carcases lying in deep water in other parts of the world.[3] Osedax japonicus was first described in 2006 from a sperm whale carcase that fell to the seabed off Kyushu, Japan, settling at a depth of 200 m (656 ft). Numerous female tube worms were observed but no males were seen.[4]