OK .... this is just "What The" weird

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The discussion centers around unusual marine organisms, specifically the anchor worm, a lesser-known relative of the naval shipworm. The anchor worm is known for its unique diet of iron and its potential threat to ships by causing anchors to drop unexpectedly. While it cannot be consumed, some indigenous cultures use it to make a tea for pregnant women. The conversation also touches on childhood experiences with two-headed animals, including snakes and zebrafish, highlighting the occurrence of head doubling in zebrafish embryos due to developmental anomalies. This phenomenon is linked to the vertebrate body plan, where development typically progresses from head to tail. The discussion reflects a fascination with the oddities of nature and the implications of developmental biology.
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far out !

 
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This is the widely unknown anchor worm (ancora navalis). It is a close relative of the more famous naval shipworm. Other than its brother, which usually lives from wooden bodies of ships, and which is by the a way very delicious food in north eastern Brasil, the anchor shipworm is specialized to anchor chains, which might be equally dangerous to the safety of a ship, for it can cause the anchor to drop off at any time of the journey. The anchor shipworm cannot be eaten, due to his iron based diet. However there are indigenous people, who use it for a kind of tea for pregnant women.
 
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I renamed it the Hammerhead Worm!

edit: I just read the wiki lol
 
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When I was a kid in grade school, our teacher brought in a two headed snake her son bred. It was cool as heck.
 
davenn said:
far out !
Indeed.
 
Kevin McHugh said:
When I was a kid in grade school, our teacher brought in a two headed snake her son bred. It was cool as heck.

While working in zebrafish labs for many years, it was not uncommon to find embryos (among the hundreds of thousands we looked at) with various extents of head doubling. They don't usually survive too long after embryogenesis.
The body plan of zebrafish (and all vertebrates develops from the head (first) to the tail (last). Frequently perturbations of development can cause development to start in two neighboring places (in Xenopus frogs, this can be done by rolling the developing embryo in a certain way at a certain time in development), forming two heads, and then merge together further down the body axis, resulting in a single body with two heads.

Here are some pictures of doubled zebrafish heads as well as some other vertebrates.
 
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Kevin McHugh said:
When I was a kid in grade school, our teacher brought in a two headed snake her son bred.
This is why we have laws against incest. ?:)
 
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