Thousands of ‘penis fish’ wash onto California beach
Thousands of “pulsing penis fish” have washed ashore on a California beach, as seen in jarring photos that are raising eyebrows due to the creature’s phallic shape.
The quirky marine life is officially called fat innkeeper worms (Urechis caupo), and an expert writes for Bay Nature that he believes a recent storm in the Drakes Beach area is the reason so many of them mysteriously appeared on the beach.
Ivan Parr, a biologist from the Western Section of the Wildlife Society, spotted them Dec. 6 and explains that the 10-inch fat innkeeper worm typically lives underwater, burrowing in mud or sand, but the storm likely carried them ashore.
“I’ve heard my share of imaginative theories from beachcombers, such as flotsam of a wrecked bratwurst freighter,” he writes.
However, Parr explains that a sausage ship accident is not the cause of this scene.
“We’re seeing the risk of building your home out of sand,” he says. “Strong storms — especially during El Niño years — are perfectly capable of laying siege to the intertidal zone, breaking apart the sediments, and leaving their contents stranded on shore.”
The spoonworm, which can live up to 25 years, feeds and swims using its “spatula-shaped proboscis.” It typically eats bacteria, plankton and other small particles, which it collects using “sticky mucus nets.”
Parr says he’s heard of sightings over the years in California at Pajaro Dunes, Moss Landing, Bodega Bay and Princeton Harbor.
The creature dates back 300 million years and also can be eaten. An anonymous colleague at The Post who has dined on a stir-fried fat innkeeper worm in Shanghai, China, describes the taste as “like a Livestrong band mated with a clam.”
Gives new meaning to the term "dick move."
Are these worms the males of the species? If so, scary to think about the females....
Okay, that is just so wrong on so many levels, but it is BF, so I am not surprised.
Back when I was a little kid spending my summers at my grandmother's beach cottage, I would scour the beach for pop (soda) bottles that were left there. In those days they were made of glass. I would collect them and sell them to the variety store for 2 cents each because they get recycled. A smart kid nowadays who was an entrepreneur like I was would collect those things and sell them as dildos - he could make a fortune.
somebody will try to raise them in tanks and sell them
Blech. What kind of woman is going to use a worm as a dildo?
What kind of guy would place a gerbil up his butt? To each their own I guess
A very strange guy who is into animal cruelty. And still, not a worm.
LMAO, If only you were so delicate.
And it's not my fault!! Buzz started it!
LOL. I plead guilty in exchange for reduced condemnation.
A particularly desperate one I would imagine...
I can't get my head around the level of desperation it would take.....
blech.
To be honest, neither can I. Blech is right!
It could be covered with a condom for "safe, clean" satisfaction.
"Thousands of ‘penis fish’ wash onto California beach"
OOOOOO !
MMMMMMMM !
GGGGGGG !
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…………. AMINAL LUVEYS !