Shipworm 114042

Bankia bipalmulata

• Group: Other

Not a worm at all but a slender boring clam, the shipworm tunnels through submerged timber in shallow water, lining its burrow with shell. Two tiny rasping valves at its head grind through the wood, which it digests with the help of gut bacteria, and over centuries its kind have riddled ships and piers.

Taxonomy: Animalia › Mollusca › Bivalvia › Myida › Teredinidae › Bankia

Species data via the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), AphiaID 527846.