Profile – Cryptic Zone

My CV

Latin name?

Teredo navalis
UK population? (How many are in the UK?)

The UK population could be huge! I can reach plague numbers in local areas around my favourite foods!
Genome Size? (Genome size is the total amount of DNA contained within one copy of a single genome)

My genome size is now unknown, but most bivalves have a C value of between 1-2, so probably half human size?
Most recent common ancestor to Homo Sapiens (presumed)

Our common ancestor lived around 575 million years ago, and probably looked a little like a worm!

I should be sequenced because...: I am very strange. I have a weird body shape, I can eat wood, and we know little about how I grow and survive! A genome would be a big help!
About Me::

I have been popular for a while!
Teredo navalis from Popular Science Monthly, Volume 13 September 1878

I am the Naval Tubeworm, Teredo navalis. Despite being called a worm, I am actually a bivalve mollusc, just like an oyster, clam or mussel! Instead of hiding inside my shell, I actually use it for tunnelling into wood. I make a burrow into the wood, eating a little tube for myself. This is a real pain for humans when I burrow into ships, houses and jetties, as the wood ends up looking like this!

Wood damage caused by shipworms. Look at the coin bottom left to get an idea of how bad this is! Photo by Mark A. Wilson, College of Wooster.

Because of where I live, I have a very weird body shape. This allows me to stay safely inside my tube. My shell is at one end of my body, alongside my mouth – you can guess what is at the other end!

Curled up shipworm. Look at the shell at one end of my body, which allows me to eat into wood! Photo from the United States Geological Survey

I was a huge problem for the Royal Navy. Their boats would fall to pieces when I ate into them. They had to cover the bottom of their ships with copper, a really expensive metal, just to stop me chewing into their ships!

Model of a 90 gun ship from 1706 – see the copper bottom! Photo by geni, GFDL CC-BY-SA

Believe it or not, people like to eat me! In the Philippines I am eaten raw with vinegar or lime juice, chopped chilli and onions. I can also be eaten in a stew. Some people say I taste like milk or oysters. I say – ewww!

Photo of prepared shipworm, taken by Flickr user Shankar s. (CC BY 2.0)

My genome could be a big help for understanding my biology, but also would be interesting for business! I can digest wood, and that is difficult. Learning how would enable us to make “biofuels” more efficiently – and these could be used to power our cars instead of petrol. So sequencing me would also be a big help to the environment!

So, vote for the shipworm!