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Staying quiet and avoiding attention is a tried and tested survival tactic for many animals, but there are few that are as good at it as the Bobbit Worm (Eunice aphroditois).


Typically living at depths between 10-40 meters, E. aphroditois buries itself in the sea floor and exposes just a fraction of its very long body for hunting smaller worms and fish with its strong, sharp mandibles. Sometimes its prey is cut completely in half because of the speed and strength of its attacks, and it can inflict a nasty bite if a human gets too close. Once the prey is caught, this fearsome nocturnal predator will shoot back into its burrow, dragging its hapless victim with it to feed.

E. aphroditois has an unusually long body with an average length of one metre, although specimens measuring up to three metres have been discovered in the waters of the Iberian Peninsula, Australia and Japan.But every once in a while a Bobbit worm will make a surprise appearance in a marine aquarium, hitching a ride within live rock whilst still very small.

But they don’t stay small for long - the unwelcome guest will tuck itself away among coral and decimate an aquarium, picking off fish and causing much confusion for the owner as the prized inhabitants of his tank disappear one by one.Indeed one such worm was recently discovered in a 200 gallon marine tank at Maidenhead Aquatics' own store in Woking, having previously gone undetected for many years and growing to over a metre long.