Who eats whom? Marine worms with jaws – delicious and dangerous!

In this series of four seminars researchers of the Natural History Museum of Bergen (University of Bergen) will talk about the wonders and secretes of marine life in Norway and beyond. Come and join us in this unique journey through some of the most fascinating and exquisite groups of marine organisms in our oceans and find out more about their ecology, evolution, and adaptations.

Who likes to eat marine worms? Many species of fish, but also other marine organisms such as crabs, shrimps, or snails live on a worm diet. People also like to eat worms. The famous Palolo worms are commonly collected in Indonesia in the last quarter of the moon phase in October - November. Collecting Palolo worms is an important cultural event for entire villages and the catch is either eaten raw or cooked in different ways.

But what do worms eat? There is a large group of marine ring worms (annelids) that have an amazingly complex jaw apparatus used to catch prey. These worms hunt on anything that swims or floats around: small shrimps, squids or even fish.

There are many examples of unexpected diets in marine life with astonishing evolutionary adaptations for obtaining food. This talk will show how one group of marine worms known from 400 million years ago to present time adapted to predation and developed a complex jaw apparatus.

Nataliya Budaeva, is an associate professor of invertebrate systematics and curator of annelids at the Department of Natural History of the University Museum of Bergen (University of Bergen).

Targeted public: high school students / university students / general public

Language: Seminar will be held in English

Duration: Approximately 30 minutes