by | May 15, 2017 | 0 comments

The Worm that Went Viral: Science Meets Social Media

Everyone knows that social media has changed the world, revolutionizing the ways that many of us communicate with friends and family, get news, meet people, entertain ourselves, and shop. However, it is not always obvious that social media can also play a big role in science.

A few years ago, a student in one of Ocean Genome Legacy’s (OGL) many international research collaborations shared a YouTube video with her supervisors. The video, produced by a Philippine weekly news magazine, showed Filipino people consuming long worm-like wood-eating clams called shipworms. This in itself was not major news. Although a bit off-putting to most, the squiggly creatures are a delicacy in many areas of the South Pacific. The big news was that one of the shipworm species being enthusiastically gobbled in the video turned out to be Kuphus polythalamia, an extremely rare behemoth that reaches up to five feet in length and lives in shell-like tubes resembling elephant tusks. Although known for more than 200 years from its tusk-like tubes and from fossils, living specimens of this unique species had never been located or described by scientists.

The shipworm, Kuphus polythalamia, that lives in shell-like tube and has symbiotic sulfur-gulping bacteria. Photo credit: Marvin A. Altamia  

OGL scientists, along with colleagues at the University of the Philippines, Sultan Kudarat University, the University of Utah, and Drexel University, jumped on the opportunity to track down Kuphus polythalamia. On finding it they showed, to everyone’s surprise, that this giant shipworm does not eat wood as other shipworms do. In fact, it does not eat much of anything at all. Instead, it lives on nutrients manufactured by sulfur-gulping bacteria that live inside its cells. The group published their astounding results two weeks ago in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That’s when a second surprise occurred: The video of the giant shipworms that the OGL and collaborating scientists included in their manuscript went viral on social media. In no time, videos appeared in hundreds of media outlets—including The New York Times and The Guardian—in dozens of countries. One of these videos alone boasts over six million views!

So, if you think that viral videos are just for piano-playing cats, think again. Who would have guessed that YouTube could be a valuable scientific tool for uncovering rare species? And that so many people want to know about the astounding biodiversity of the ocean?

The OGL biorepository works with researchers, educators, and citizen scientists around the globe to preserve valuable DNA samples and inspire the next generation of ocean stewards. If you would like to support our efforts, please consider making a gift.

RECENT NEWS BRIEFS

OGL celebrates its 20th anniversary!

By Hannah Appiah-Madson and Dan Distel. Two decades ago, the Ocean Genome Legacy (OGL) embarked on an ambitious mission to realize the vision of its founder, Donald G. Comb, to advance knowledge and protect the marine environment by preserving, cataloging, and sharing...

Happy Halloween From These Spooky Fish! 

Authors: Anna Eaton, Syringa Barenti, and Dan Distel October is the time of year for colorful leaves, warm drinks, cozy nights, and candy corn. It’s also the month of spooky stories, goblins, and witches—and when all your worst fears come to life! But did you know the...

Spotlight on Ancient Underwater Cypress Forest  

We are excited to announce the release of “The Lost Forest” by Jennifer Swanson, a book that highlights the remarkable work of Ocean Genome Legacy (OGL) at the ancient underwater cypress forest off Alabama’s coast. This unique ecosystem, buried for 60,000 years, has...

May is Biodiversity Month! 

At OGL, we are deeply committed to studying and preserving marine biodiversity.   Here’s how we are observing Marine Biodiversity Month:  Research Support: OGL conducts and supports cutting-edge research to discover new marine species and understand...

Deep-sea Genomes vs Deep-Sea Mining 

By Akancha Singh, Rosie Poulin, and Dan Distel Last month, an international team of researchers led by OGL collaborator Mercer Brugler from the University of South Carolina published the complete mitochondrial genomes of two deep-sea black corals in ZooKeys1. This...

A day in the life of an OGL student intern.

Ever wonder what it’s like to work in a marine research lab like Ocean Genome Legacy (OGL)? Let’s follow OGL’s newest student research assistant, co-op Mia Bender, COS‘25, through her week to find out!  This week, Mia has been dissecting lobsters to preserve...

X