‘Barry’ the Giant Sea Worm and the Vampire Squid from Hell

Sweet mother, this thing would frighten a shoggoth.

From the Daily Mail:

Aquarium staff have unearthed a ‘giant sea’ worm that was attacking coral reef and prize fish.

The 4ft long monster, named Barry, had launched a sustained attack on the reef in a display tank at Newquay’s Blue Reef Aquarium over recent months.

Workers at the Cornwall-based attraction had been left scratching their heads as to why the coral had been left devastated and – in some cases – cut in half.

After staking out the display for several weeks, the last resort was to completely dismantle it, rock by rock.

Halfway through the process the predator was revealed as a four-foot polychaete worm.

Staff eventually lured it out with fish scraps, but not before it bit through 20lb fishing line.

The tropical worm is capable of inflicting permanent numbness on humans with its sting.

Matt Slater, the aquarium’s curator, said: ‘Something was guzzling our reef but we had no idea what, we also found an injured Tang Fish so we laid traps but they got ripped apart in the night.

‘That worm must have obliterated the traps. The bait was full of hooks which he must have just digested.’

He added: ‘It really does look like something out of a horror movie. It’s over four feet long with these bizarre-looking jaws.

‘We also discovered that he is covered with thousands of bristles which are capable of inflicting a sting resulting in permanent numbness.’

Mr Slater said Barry, who has now been relocated to his own tank, probably arrived as a juvenile in a delivery of living rock from another aquarium.

Apparently, at the puny length of four feet oh my god, ‘Barry’ is just a captive baby.
In the actual ocean, this “Bobbit Worm” (Eunice aphroditis) can grow to 3 meters and strike at speeds fast enough to rip live prey in half.

It gets better:

After mating, the female worm attacks the male’s penis, severing it entirely; hence the critter’s name.

The cause for such sadism? So that the offspring can feed on their father’s penis.

In other awesome animal news, we have ‘Sir David Attenborough and the Vampire Squid From Hell,’ which sounds to me like a title for one of those I Can Read serial books for primary schoolers.