Life - Timelapse of swarming monster worms and sea stars - BBC One

In McMurdo Sound life flourishes The creatures here grow extremely slowly but that does mean they can reach a great age and great size and they occur in surprisingly large numbers Three meter long carnivorous nemertean worms, red sea stars and urchins carpet the sea floor This monster worm will eat almost anything and is constantly scanning the sea floor for food Animals are swarming here in such numbers because of this: a dead seal pup Such a great quantity of food may only arrive once in 10 years, but the seal’s body won't be easy to eat Nemerteans have a snout like a harpoon that enables them to puncture the skin of the corpse It's harder work for the sea stars. They feed by pushing out their stomachs through their mouths as this sea star presses its stomach against the seal’s skin it secretes digestive juices that dissolve the seal’s tissue But that takes time These scavengers will feed here throughout the summer until all that remains of the seal will be a skeleton stripped bare

Channel: BBC

Views: 4,755,827

Keywords: Timelapse, Life, creatures of the deep, polar, sea, ice, water, scuba, mcmurdoe sound, starfish, urchins, nemertean worms, worms, nemateen, sea stars, swarming, seal, dead, carcass, corpse, eat, eating, devouring, digestive juices, carnivorous, bbc1, bbcone, bbc one, bbc, episode 8, David Attenborough, November 30, 2009, Monday

Id: HG17TsgV_qI

Length: 2min 53sec (173 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 25 2009