The story of Ramisyllis multicaudata begins in a simple manner. It lives inside the water passages of a sponge called Petrosia, with its head buried deep inside it. From there, the story starts to take a weird turn.
The Ramisyllis starts to branch repeatedly inside the sponge, with no pattern whatsoever, and the bristle worm begins to reveal its rather grotesque nature.
Scientists remark that, despite being an animal, Ramisyllis lives as though it were a fungus, noting the similar appearance of the worm’s branching tubes to that of a fungus under a microscope.
To describe the worm as bizarre is an understatement.
(Image Credit: Sarah Faulwetter/ Wikimedia Commons)
