Perhaps the most obvious candidate was the penis worm, meaning the marine worms in the phylum Priapulida. The worms were abundant in the Cambrian period and still survive today, although they are very ...

Many of Earth’s plants, animals and organisms aren’t in your phone’s emoji library. We’ve created 8 emojis to help compensate.

The Ediacaran‒Cambrian transition is marked by the appearance in the fossil record of a variety of new body plans that prefigure the majority of present-day animal lineages, including the ecdysozoans, ...

Aotearoa New Zealand’s marine biodiversity checklist has been updated, representing an increase of 3,630 known living species since the turn of the century. The Marine Biota of Aotearoa New Zealand ...

The largest Priapulida species grow to around 16 inches (40 centimeters) long, according to a 2013 study published in Zoologischer Anzeiger - A Journal of Comparative Zoology. You may like ...

It contains Scalidophora (Kinorhyncha, Loricifera, Priapulida), Nematoida (Nematoda, Nematomorpha), and Panarthropoda (Tardigrada, Onychophora, Arthropoda). Scalidophora and Nematoida constitute ...

From a fish resembling a "cheeseburger with teeth" to a sea creature with a transparent head, several mysterious sea creatures were found in 2021, leaving experts and social media users around the ...

3. Priapulida Priapulida, a.k.a. penis worm, is a phylum of marine worms. This worm takes its name from the Greek Fertility God Priapus since it looks like… a penis.

Priapulida worms, if you prefer the more formal name, are still around. Even that name is a nod to their appearance. It comes from Priapus, a Greek fertility god known for his outsized member.

Instead, the team says that Priapulida, or the “penis worm,” invented the tactic of hiding in shells. Because apparently the penis worm’s appearance alone wasn’t enough to scare off predators?