Researchers Just Discovered a New Species at the Bottom of the Ocean—and it Looks Like a Penis

“We have no idea how much wood is at the bottom of the ocean.”

A wood-boring clam inside of a piece of wood.Jenna Judge

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Of all the strange creatures that live on the ocean floor, one newly discovered aquatic animal might look surprisingly familiar. This wood-boring clam bears a striking resemblance to, well, wood.

Researchers have discovered three new groups and one new species of deep-sea wood-munching clams, according to a new paper in the Journal of Molluscan Studies. They burrow through waterlogged pieces of wood that have fallen to the bottom of the sea, then eat the sawdust they’ve scraped off. The clams work in massive numbers to eat away at wood washed out to sea from storms. “We have no idea how much wood is at the bottom of the ocean, but there’s probably a lot more than we think,” said Janet Voight, the lead author of the study and Associate Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Field Museum in Chicago.

The clams play an important role in deep-sea ecosystems. “These clams contribute to the cycling of carbon, they play an integral part in making the wood into something that the other animals at the bottom of the ocean can get energy from,” Voight said. “It could even affect sea level rise. It blows me away.”

Don’t get too excited about their phallic shape, though: they happen to be about the size of a pea.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate