![\"shipworm\"](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/shipworm.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDiscovered in the Philippines<\/a>, the mud-dwelling organism lives head down in a tusk-like tube.<\/span><\/p>\n Dan Distel of Northeastern University\u2019s marine science centre and co-author of a study published in the journal <\/span>PNAS<\/b><\/a> described the specimen as \u201ca very mysterious organism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe think, among living biologists, anyway, our group are probably the only group that has seen living specimens,\u201d said Distel.<\/span><\/p>\n He added: \u201cTo me it was almost like finding a dinosaur \u2013 something that was pretty much only known by fossils.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Distel\u2019s team stumbled across the ship worm\u2019s\u2019 whereabouts thanks to a Philippine television news report on YouTube. The location remains a secret to prevent the site being disturbed by shell collectors.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Guardian<\/b><\/a> reports:<\/span><\/p>\n With the Linnaean classification Kuphus polythalamia, the creature lives in the mud inside a long tube made of calcium carbonate secreted by the animal. The tube forms a casing for the beast, including its head. \u201cIf they want to grow, they have to open that end of that tube, so somehow dissolve or reabsorb that cap on the bottom, grow, extend the tube down further into the mud, and then they seal it off again,\u201d said Distel.<\/span><\/p>\n The end of the tube, adds Distel, is Y-shaped and surrounds two siphons \u2013 water is drawn in through one, pushed through the creature\u2019s gills, then expelled through the other.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite being known as a shipworm \u2013 a nod to its relatives\u2019 diet of submerged wood \u2013 the animal is actually a type of clam. It has a modified version of two clam shells at its head, while the body stretches out behind. \u201cIts body has been stretched out through evolution so that it no longer fits between the two shells,\u201d said Distel.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Distel explained that the discovery \u201csheds light on the evolution of symbiotic relationships between sulphur-oxidising organisms and other creatures, and backs up the possibility that sunken wood might have played a role in how such species ended up in locations such as deep sea hydrothermal vents.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt might well be monstrous, but that does not mean that it isn\u2019t marvellous.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you are down living among murky dirt, then aesthetics are surely not your number one priority.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Watch a report on the discovery below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The post Scientists Discover First Living Three-Foot-Long Giant Shipworm: VIDEO<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/span>Although its existence has been known for centuries thanks to fossil records, scientists have for the first time found a\u00a0living giant shipworm.<\/span><\/p>\nRELATED:\u00a0ASAPScience Digs Into Why Dogs Really Are Man\u2019s Best Friend: VIDEO<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n
<\/a>TV presenter and president of the <\/span>Ugly Animal Preservation Society<\/a><\/strong> said: <\/span><\/p>\n