Green Bombers Posted at 8/23/2009 03:15:00 AM 0 comments (+) A new species of worms living thousands of feet beneath the sea has been discovered by scientists! And they are calling it "green bombers" because these critters cast off green glowing body parts. Researchers thinks that this kind of behavior is the worm's defensive effort to confuse attackers.

The seven new species of worms were found by a team led by Karen Osborn of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. They report on the worms in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

Ranging in size from three-fourths of an inch to nearly four inches, the worms live at depths of 5,900 feet to more than 12,000 feet and were discovered by remotely operated submarines in both the northeast and western Pacific Ocean.

"They have a very strange way of using bioluminescence," Osborn explained in a briefing.

They have appendages, some round, others oval or long, which they release when they are disturbed, she said. Once release the appendage, it glows bright green.

"They drop one or two at a time and if you keep harassing them they will keep dropping them," she said, adding that the worms are able to regenerate the body parts.

It's the first time this has been seen in swimming worms, she said, although some brittle stars and some squids will let an arm drop off if attacked.

"We're not sure who their predators are," added Osborn, but she noted that fish prey on other types of swimming worms.

The closest relative to the newly found creatures are worms that burrow in the sea floor, Osborn said, "at some point they moved up into the water."

The first of the new species has been given the scientific name Swima bombiviridis.