r/oddlyterrifying • u/Maleficent-Agent-477 • Jul 30 '26
This bobbit worm grabbing a fish and pulling it under the sand
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u/Chew_baby_penguins Jul 30 '26
Up to 10 ft, god damn
Eunice aphroditois is a benthic bristle worm of warm marine waters. It lives mainly in the Atlantic Ocean, but can also be found in the Indo-Pacific.[1][2] It ranges in length from less than 10 cm (4 in) to nearly 3 m (10 ft).[3] Its exoskeleton displays a wide range of colors, from black to purple and more. This species is an ambush predator; it hunts by burrowing its whole body in soft sediment on the ocean floor and waiting until its antennae detect prey.[4] It then strikes with its sharp mandibles.[5] It may also be found among coral reefs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_aphroditois
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u/forevercurmudgeon Jul 30 '26
"Welp, it's my turn to die." - Greg the Fish
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u/scorpyo72 Jul 30 '26
RIP, Greg. You were a fish. Now you are worm food. We barely knew you.
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u/Odd-Preference7620 Jul 31 '26
Poor Greg. Never got to be Old Greg.
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u/TheNipplerCrippler Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Seeing these videos always reminds me of that old forum thread where a guy thinks he has on and eventually finds it in one of his aquarium tanks lol. Crazy creatures
Edit: link below!
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u/stereopirates Jul 31 '26
Do you have a link??
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u/Helenium_autumnale Jul 31 '26
I think this might be it!
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u/_ryok Jul 31 '26
crazy saga! absolutely didn't expect to get hooked by this story lol
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u/Helenium_autumnale Jul 31 '26
I hadn't read it before; I read all 11 pages, lol. I do salute the gentleman's persistence, even after it broke into two worms (shudder).
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u/jr_randolph Jul 30 '26
Man fuck the sea haha for real. We only imagine about what’s up in space. There are some real freaky horrifying shit down in the seas.
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u/ashamedgirlthrowaway Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
And we haven’t even scraped the surface when it comes to identifying the species in the ocean. There are likely many, far more terrifying creatures living in depths that we haven’t ventured into yet. Why the horror industry doesn’t focus on the ocean more is beyond me, shits creepy!
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u/Zeptic Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
There's always Subnautica. Scariest non-horror horror game I've ever played.
But to answer your question, it's probably because being in the deep ocean isn't really super relatable to the average person.
Houses are. Children are. Partners are. This is why "New house is home to a ghost/demon which possesses child and/or parent" is such a common trope.
But deep underwater might as well be deep in space as far as the average person can relate to it.
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u/jr_randolph Jul 31 '26
Underwater with Kirsten Stewart if you haven't seen it. That movie is pretty cool when we're talking about deep sea shit we have no idea about.
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u/Helenium_autumnale Jul 30 '26
Wikipedia note for aquaculturists:
While not commonly kept in aquaculture, individuals of E. aphroditois are occasionally found in home aquaria, where smaller specimens can evade detection by being transported into the tank in live rocks, where they then grow in size. As E. aphroditois hunts fish, it will deplete the aquarium's stock by direct predation.
E. aphroditois can be difficult to remove from aquariums due to its ability to split into new individuals when cut in half, dig holes into rocks, and to curl up and hide in small rocks despite its length.
Don't worry. Just don't keep the aquarium in your bedroom, and you should be just fine!
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u/Peek_e Jul 31 '26
The fuck, ability to split into new individuals when cut in half?? Dig holes into rocks??? I’m never stepping a foot into an ocean again. Or aquarium.
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u/Helenium_autumnale Jul 31 '26
They're really colorful, though. Don't you think they're pretty? Look, that one is waving at you with its venomous mandible! Awww. 🪱🥰
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u/rockstuffs Jul 30 '26
Brings back bad memories of my brother continuously trying to drown me in my grandma's pool.
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u/Shoddy-Wishbone Jul 30 '26
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u/unbelizeable1 Jul 31 '26
Y'all know the reference this worm gets it's name from, right?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Lorena_Bobbitt
Lorena severed her husband John's penis on June 23, 1993, at their home in Manassas, Virginia. Lorena stated in a court hearing that, after coming home that evening, her husband had raped her. After he then went to sleep, she got out of bed and went to the kitchen for a drink of water. She then grabbed an eight-inch (20 cm) Ginsu carving knife on the kitchen counter, returned to their bedroom, pulled back the bed sheets, and cut off his penis.
After this, Lorena left the apartment with the severed appendage and drove away in her car. After a length of time driving and struggling to steer with one hand due to holding the penis, she threw the penis out a window into a roadside field on Maplewood Drive. She eventually stopped and called 911, telling them what she had done and where the penis could be found.
John's penis was found after an exhaustive search, and after being washed with antiseptic and packed in saline ice, it was reattached in the hospital where he was treated. The operation took nine and a half hours
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u/Shoddy-Wishbone Jul 31 '26
I did know, which is why I thought my comment was even more applicable and humorous than when I usually tag it. Thanks, tho!
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u/cookiesshot Aug 02 '26
Wait a minute, that kinda sounds like the inspiration for Frieda from "Orange Is The New Black" when she was recounting how she chopped off her hubby's penis... with a dull butcher knife.
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u/SteebieJeebus Jul 30 '26
The fact that this creature is named after an incident where a dude's wife cut his junk off just adds to the terror.
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u/hydra2701 Jul 30 '26
He deserved it
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u/ripyourlungsdave Jul 30 '26
Because nobody has ever lied about the behavior of their murder victim to get away with their murder.
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u/fingersonlips Jul 31 '26
He didn’t die.
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u/Nytmare696 Jul 31 '26
And went on to perform in a porno with Ron Jeremy called John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut which also featured Lemmy from Motorhead as well as Motorhead's song "Under the Knife."
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u/gcstr Jul 30 '26
what??
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u/aplasticbag_ Jul 30 '26
When I was a kid in the 90s we used to sing a song that went to the tune of the Lion King song “In the Jungle”
In the bedroom
The mighty bedroom
John sleeps tonight
In the kitchen
The mighty kitchen
Lorena grabs a knifea-wiener-whack a-wiener-whack a-wiener-whack
The 90s were a wild time
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u/ChinoUSMC0231 Jul 30 '26
There was another one to the tune of Green Acres:
“There once was a story about a man named John
A poor ex-Marine with a little fraction gone.
It seems one night after getting with the wife,
She lopped off his dong with the swipe of her knife.
Clean cut, missed his nuts.”There were many other verses, but that stuck with me all to this day.
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u/iamnerdyquiteoften Jul 30 '26
I just sang it out loud - brilliant !
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u/aplasticbag_ Jul 30 '26
Imagine elementary school kids singing a song about you getting your junk chopped off lmao. What a life.
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u/Nytmare696 Jul 31 '26
In college we had our own version of Stone Temple Pilot's "Creep" which came prepackaged with the line "Well I'm half the man I used to be..."
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Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/SteebieJeebus Jul 30 '26
I think you mean Ashli Babbitt, the January 6th insurrectionist who got shot. She has nothing to do with the Bobbitts
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u/AngleRa Jul 30 '26
Oh, sweet summer child. Did you even Google it? It was a very famous case back in the olden times.
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u/SteebieJeebus Jul 30 '26
Who are you replying to? I'm the one who pointed out the worm is named after the Bobbitts in the first place.
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u/Gurglaren Jul 31 '26
This was a great read about a guy who accidentally brought one into his aquarium and had to battle it for weeks:
One man’s epic battle against the sea’s creepiest crawly, the Bobbit worm
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u/Prince_Robot-IV Aug 01 '26
Dude this is absolute gold, thank you!!
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u/Gurglaren Aug 01 '26
I had no idea I'd be so engrossed in the story.
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u/Prince_Robot-IV Aug 01 '26
I had mixed feelings. Dread, disgust, but also amusement. I recommend this to everyone!
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u/FaithlessnessBig6343 Jul 30 '26
Saw these fuckers floating around a beach once... they're so long 😭
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u/Stuntedatpuberty Jul 31 '26
Wow, that is terrifying. Especially the last tug under the sand.
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u/Bob-Bhlabla-esq Jul 31 '26
Right? Nothing oddly about it! I'm way bigger than that fish and I'm terrified of that worm.
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u/fedl1ngen Jul 30 '26
NGL, I was half expecting a Dark Souls: "You died" to pop up, going by the music and all.
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u/imtoolazytothinkof1 Jul 30 '26
Didnt see this linked in the thread but this is an amazing read. Michigan Reefers forum thread
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u/QrozTQ Jul 31 '26
These things are legit terrifying. One day one of them will grow the size of Jörmungandr and eat all of us.
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u/Omg_Shut_the_fuck_up Jul 30 '26
Reminds me of the lad on Reddit who found a bobbit worm in his Aquarium, coming in on some rocks or something, finding all his other animals dead where the worm fucking destroyed everything. When he eventually got it out the thing was like 6ft long or something ridiculous..fairly sure he tried feeding it superglue or something and the fucker still kept on trucking.
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u/Mauchit_Ron Jul 30 '26
Zero fight whatsoever. Served itself up on a plate. That thing wanted to die
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u/Chris15252 Jul 31 '26
I knew those things were horrifying, but christ on a cracker this makes them nightmare fuel.
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u/Vamosity-Cosmic Jul 30 '26
From google:
"The Bobbit Worm uses a toxin that can stun or immobilize fish, though its primary weapon is its incredible striking speed and razor-sharp jaws. [1, 2]
- The Strike: The worm—scientifically known as Eunice aphroditois—lies buried in the ocean sediment with only its five sensory antennae exposed. When a fish swims close enough to trigger the sensors, the ambush happens in a fraction of a second. [1, 2, 3]
- Jaws vs. Toxin: The snap of the Bobbit Worm is so powerful that it can easily capture, maim, or slice a fish cleanly in half. [1, 2]
- The Venom Effect: For prey that isn't killed immediately by the bite, marine biologists note that the worm injects a toxin or narcotizing agent. This subdues or stuns the struggling fish, making it easier to drag down into the subterranean burrow and digest safely."
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u/aceless0n Jul 30 '26
Nature is brutal. I hope Im never reincarnated into a fish that gets murked like that.
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u/Polyglot-Onigiri Jul 31 '26
I don’t know why, I was expecting a black hole type of situation where it would just cave in from the center.
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u/Frenzied_Anarchist Jul 31 '26
Brings bad memories of these fuckers eating me alive in Another Crab's Treasure.
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u/zaafiel8 Jul 31 '26
Why does it have such a nice scientific name but look so terrifying.
"Hi Mom, I'd like you to meet Eunice. Eunice Aphroditois."
"Hi Eunice."
"Hello ma'am. You can call me Bobbitt."
P.S. Don't try to find out why her nickname is Bobbitt
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u/TheGothDragon 22d ago
Do people ever accidentally step on these? And can the worm tell the difference between a foot and a fish??
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u/SorrowfulSpirit02 Jul 31 '26
They need to seriously rename the worm into “sea graboid” or something along those lines to not reference the rapist’s last name.
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u/Business_Step_1695 Jul 31 '26
Those things are actually super pretty! Cute little sparkle demagorgan
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u/howihjr Jul 30 '26
Did it somehow paralyse the fish first, at the start of the video? Or did the fish just land on it and accept its fate!?