A video showing a bizarre ability of a worm is gaining traction on social media. In a clip, a man is seen tapping on the body of the "alien-like" species and within a few seconds it spits out a tree-like structure. While the clip can disgust some users, others found it "cool and creepy" at the same time. The species in question is a ribbon worm, very slim and only a few millimetres wide. Many have patterns of yellow, orange, red and green colours.
The worm seen in the video posted on Twitter shows a red-coloured worm, which looks like a jelly. There is a small black dot at its mouth.
The worm tries to avoid the taps from the man by moving around, but after 4-5 attempts, it spits out the bizarre tree-like structure.
The 8-second clip, posted on Twitter, has shocked the users. "That is what nightmares are made of," commented one of them. "Doesn't that feel so gross?! How can someone let it crawl up their arm?" tweeted another.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, this structure is made of proboscis, a unique muscular structure inside the worm's body. When attacking prey, it compresses its body to push out the proboscis like the finger of a latex glove turned inside-out.
The magazine also said that more than 1,000 species of ribbon worms are found across the world, most of them in the ocean.
The outlet also said that the species of ribbon worm is the bootlace worm, which can be found writhing among rocks in the waters of the North Sea.
They belong to the Nemertea phylum, which includes mainly free-living forms but also a few parasites of crustaceans, mollusks and sea squirts.
Ribbon worms have highly developed muscles that allow them to contract their bodies, shrinking to a tenth of their extended length when threatened, said Smithsonian Magazine.
