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Bobbit: The sinister sea creature that left Blue Planet 2 viewers terrified

All you need to know about the 'giant carnivorous worm with jaws as sharp as daggers'

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith

Monday 13 November 2017 14:22 GMT

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Beware the Bobbit - Blue Planet exhibits an absolutely savage carnivorous seaworm

Its opening episode was the most-watched programme of 2017 and The BBC’s Blue Planet II series has received rave reviews since it began airing last month.

But one creature featured on the show - the metre-long, terrifyingly fast, sea bed-dwelling predator known as the Bobbit worm - has left viewers “thoroughly traumatised”.

Here we take a look at what has viewers so scared:

What is a Bobbit worm?

David Attenborough described it as a “giant carnivorous worm with jaws as sharp as daggers”.

He told viewers that it “has an ancestry that stretches back more than 400 million years.”

How big is it?

The creatures that gave viewers the creeps are on average, a metre long (3.3 feet).

However, they can reportedly reach up to 10 feet (3m) in length.

Why is it so scary?

The Bobbit conceals its long body in the sea bed and waits with its head either at ground level or poking a couple of inches out of the bed, ready to ambush its prey.

At great speed, it then snatches fish at great speed with its sharp jaws that, in the words of Dr Terry Gosliner, “spring shut like a bear trap”.

It then drags its prey underground.

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Show all 10

1/10Blue Planet II – in pictures

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Broadclub cuttlefish

"A broadclub cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus) in Indonesia. Its skin contains millions of pigment cells with which it can create ever-changing colours and patterns to apparently mesmerise their prey."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Coral spawning on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

"Once a year, responding to cues from the cycle of the moon and the temperature of the water, corals simultaneously release their eggs and sperm into the ocean. Tiny coral larvae drift in the ocean currents, some for days, some for weeks, before sinking back down to the ocean floor and settling to become new corals."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

An aggregation of marbled grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion), French Polynesia

"Thousands of groupers gather here in one of the few pristine spawning aggregations for this species remaining in the world. By taking up the position closest to a female, the male stands the best chance of fertilising her eggs."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Saddleback clownfish (Amphiprion polymnus)

"A male saddleback clownfish uses all the strength it can muster to push a coconut shell to its anemone in Borneo. Unlike their reef relatives, saddleback clownfish live around anemones that are found in the sand, far away from the solid structure of the coral reef. Male saddleback clownfish must use their ingenuity to find a hard substrate upon which the females can lay their eggs."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Peters' monocle breams (Scolopsis affinis)

"A group of Peters' monocle breams blow water-jets onto a hiding bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois) to expose its ferocious jaws. In so doing, they alert other fish to the worm's location, ruining the predator’s chance of a surprise attack. This new behaviour was published for the first time by Jose Lachat and Daniel Haag-Wackernagel in 2016."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Green turtles (Chelonia mydas)

Green turtles in Sipadan, Borneo, jostling for their place at a cleaning station. Here, turtles are serviced by blennies and surgeonfish who rid them of algal growth, parasites and dead skin. In return, these fish receive a nutritious meal.

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum)

"Bumphead parrotfish feeding on coral and algae in Borneo. These parrotfish use their large forehead to ram corals, thereby breaking them into pieces that are more easily ingested. Each fish ingests over 5 tons of structural reef carbonates per year and after they digest the edible portions from the rock, they excrete it as sand, helping to create small islands and the sandy beaches."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Coral garden

"A fish's-eye view of a coral garden on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. New underwater probe lenses, developed for Blue Planet II, allow the viewer to immerse themselves into the coral reef city like never before."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

A coral grouper (Plectropomus leopardus)

"A coral grouper on the Great Barrier Reef in Northern Australia. Groupers use a gesture dubbed the ‘headstand signal’ to reach across the vertebrate-invertebrate divide and encourage another species to help it hunt. Gestures such as this are thought to only occur in the largest-brained species. The discovery of this behaviour in groupers indicates that some fish are able to think flexibly to achieve their goals."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Bigeye trevally (Caranx sexfasciatus)

"A school of Bigeye trevally gather at the outer edge of the reef wall in Sipadan, Borneo. These trevally are a schooling species, widespread in the tropics and usually found in large- slow moving schools during the day. They eat a variety of smaller fish, crustaceans and marine invertebrates."

BBC

Where is it found?

Generally found in warmer oceans, such as the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic oceans, occasionally the Bobbit worm finds its way into more domestic settings.

In 2013, staff at an aquatics store in Woking had a “big surprise” when they discovered a metre-long Bobbit in one of their tanks, the BBC reported.

It was thought to have entered the tank inside a piece of live rock which had been imported into the aquarium from the ocean.

Why is it called a Bobbit?

Technically this worm is called Eunice aphroditois, but it is colloquially referred to as a Bobbit.

It was Dr Gosliner, senior curator at the California Academy of Sciences, who gave the worm its moniker after spotting the creature on a 1992 trip to the Philippines.

He told media company, Great Big Story, that when he was writing, The Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific, he needed to name the creature.

At the time, he said the case of Lorena Bobbitt was all over the news as she stood trial for maliciously wounding her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, by cutting off his penis in the middle of the night and throwing it in a field.

“Basically the ability to use those massive jaws to cut the spinal cord of a fish was something that reminded me of what Lorena Bobbitt did to her husband,” he said.

Ms Bobbitt was ultimately found not guilty of malicious wounding by reason of temporary insanity.

She now now carries out carries out charity work helping survivors of domestic abuse.

What did Blue Planet II viewers make of the Bobbit?

Taking to social media, some users described the creature as "the stuff of nightmares".

One person asked: "Is anyone else thoroughly traumatised by the alien-like carnivorous Bobbit worm?"

Another wrote: "Probably gonna have nightmares about bobbits tonight. Actually horror film worthy."

A third said: "Thanks #BluePlanet2 I was running out of ideas for nightmares, but I'll try to fit the worm in."

Another said: "Who else is avoiding sleep tonight after seeing that nightmare bobbit worm?"

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