Culture

Good Lord: Scientists Have Dredged Up A Penis Fish From The Depths Of Australia’s Oceans

It's officially called the 'peanut worm'.

by Tom Clift  18 June 2017

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When it comes to bizarre animals that should in no way exist, Australia simply cannot be beat. We’re the home of the cassowary and the platypus and the desert rain frog, not to mention more than 2,000 different spiders. But that’s nothing compared to what scientists from Museums Victoria found lurking in our oceans earlier this week.

Australia…meet the dick worm.

Admittedly, the scientists aren’t actually calling it the dick worm. They’re calling it the peanut worm, otherwise known as the sipuncula. And in their defence, it does look vaguely like a peanut, I guess. It just that it looks a hell of a lot more like a dick.

This particular peanut worm was found in the eastern abyss, an especially deep and mysterious part of the ocean around 100km off the country’s east coast. The scientists also found a number of other bizarre species, including the cookie cutter shark and the sea pig.

And guess who else was hanging out down there? That’s right: it’s your old mate the blobfish.

Still, all anyone really wants to talk about is the ocean peen. And honestly, can you blame them?

In less entertaining news, the Museums Victoria team also dredged up a staggering amount of garbage. “We’re 100 kilometres off Australia’s coast, and have found PVC pipes, cans of paints, bottles, beer cans, woodchips, and other debris from the days when steamships plied our waters,” said the voyage’s chief scientist Dr Tim O’Hara. “The seafloor has 200 years of rubbish on it.”

So remember folks: always recycle. The poor peanut worm depends on it.

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h/t International Business Times. Feature image via Rob Zugaro