Thousands of ‘penis fish’ wash up on California beach
- Unusual sight as numerous fat innkeeper worms are left bare after powerful storm washes away their cover
After a powerful storm washed away their cover, thousands of unsightly – and phallic-looking – worms were left bare on a California beach.
Fat innkeeper worms – colloquially known as “penis fish” – washed up on Drakes Beach in Point Reyes, California, around 80km (50 miles) northwest of San Francisco, last Friday.
First reported by nature publication Bay Nature, the “penis fish” that washed ashore is the Urechis caupo, a type of spoonworm that primarily lives on the Pacific coast from southern Oregon to Baja California, according to naturalist Ivan Parr.
At around (25cm) 10 inches, its peculiar shape is perfect for coastal life, allowing it to dig a U-shaped burrow for itself and for other sea creatures, like crabs and fish, in sand or mudflats, he said.
The burrow that U. caupo makes is also useful for catching food, letting them take water in using a mucus “net” and sucking in plankton and other bacteria. It even leaves behind residuals for its guests, hence the “innkeeper” moniker.