Subject: Long blue worm
Location: Dickson, Tn (near Nashville)
July 22, 2014 4:52 pm
Found this worm hanging in an oak tree on July 20 by a silk thread. It is 5-6 inches long and iridescent in the sunlight. Can’t find any info about it, hoping you can help. Thanks.
Signature: Carole
Dear Carole,
We have no idea what this is, but it does not look natural and it appears to have been hung by a human.
So sorry to bother you. I came to the same conclusion you did this afternoon as I got more curious and decided to get a step ladder out and touch it. Turns out it is a fishing lure. I still have no idea how it got into a tree in my back yard. My yard is fenced with no gate and I have several dogs (they are friendly). I hung a chandelier on the next branch over not long ago and the worm was not there then. I live alone and do not fish. It is now a new mystery. Thank you so much for your time. A friend sent me to your site…it is really interesting. Again sorry for sending you on a wild goose chase.  Carole
Don’t worry Carole. Your submission prompted a robust dialog in our comment section and led to some nice links of “real” blue worms in various parts of the world.
Fishing lure.
What I was gonna say.
Looks close to this http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/gear/post/state-of-maine-may-ban-soft-plastic-lures
or
http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=388066
That is exactly what we thought Cesar. thanks for providing the links.
What I was gonna say.
Looks close to this http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/gear/post/state-of-maine-may-ban-soft-plastic-lures
or
http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=388066
Our thoughts exactly.
I immediately thought “fishing lure”, but then remembered reading about giant earthworms. I looked up “blue earthworms” and found a species, Megascolex coeruleus. Here are a few links to images. The giant blue earthworms are native to Sri Lanka, not Tennessee. Megascolex are bioluminescent: http://eol.org/pages/3126682/overview
This is a mystery.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wildside-photography/10215959774/
http://www.agefotostock.com/en/Stock-Images/Rights-Managed/PUN-7093
… and then there is this curly-tail blue fishing lure, that sure looks like the submitted photo, for sale on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/371072622110?lpid=82
That is a much better bet in our mind.
Thanks so much for those links. How would you explain it getting to Dickson, Tennessee? Perhaps exotic animal smuggling? It still looks like it was hung by a human.
Disney? Harry Potter? Mad scientist? Kidding!
I totally agree with you. Looks rubbery/glittery/fake to me, and the curved “tail” is odd.
I was so surprised to find that living, giant, blue, glowing earthworms actually exist, though. Ha! Truth can indeed be stranger than fiction.
sigh Had to look some more, that’s what happens when a topic is so interesting… more blue earthworms, in the Phillipines, Australia and Japan.
Article and photo of Phillipine blue giant earthworms, some of which can reportedly spray toxins from their backs (!) scroll down to the earthworm:
http://pitcherplants.proboards.com/thread/3800
and the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439609209000257
Photo of Pheretima sieboldi:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pokoroto/2950708988/
Photo of a giant blue earthworm in Australia: http://www.jltphotographs.com/images/Nature_fauna/Giant_Blue_Earthworm_Australia.html
Here’s Terriswalkeris terraeregina of Australia, photo and blog entry:
http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2008/05/22/giant-blue-earthworms-and-frie/
And it’s not easy being blue; here’s a YouTube video of a giant blue Pheretima sieboldi being touched with a stick in Japan. It moves fast! Poor thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfGdmQdKWRg
Last but not least, there is an earthworm invasion of non-native, Asian earthworms in North America: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1656/058.008.0211 and http://blog.uvm.edu/jgorres/amynthas/
Apparently many earthworms invade non-native lands quite easily through wood and soil exports and even if caught between the hooves of animals such as goats and cattle… So, if this is was a photo of a real worm, my apologies for thinking it was not real!
(Although the invading Asian earthworms are not blue.)
We are sticking by our “does not look natural” original response, but all of your research is a marvelous addition to the dialog on this posting.
Disney? Harry Potter? Mad scientist? Kidding!
I totally agree with you. Looks rubbery/glittery/fake to me, and the curved “tail” is odd.
I was so surprised to find that living, giant, blue, glowing earthworms actually exist, though. Ha! Truth can indeed be stranger than fiction.
sigh Had to look some more, that’s what happens when a topic is so interesting… more blue earthworms, in the Phillipines, Australia and Japan.
Article and photo of Phillipine blue giant earthworms, some of which can reportedly spray toxins from their backs (!) scroll down to the earthworm:
http://pitcherplants.proboards.com/thread/3800
and the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439609209000257
Photo of Pheretima sieboldi:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pokoroto/2950708988/
Photo of a giant blue earthworm in Australia: http://www.jltphotographs.com/images/Nature_fauna/Giant_Blue_Earthworm_Australia.html
Here’s Terriswalkeris terraeregina of Australia, photo and blog entry:
http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2008/05/22/giant-blue-earthworms-and-frie/
And it’s not easy being blue; here’s a YouTube video of a giant blue Pheretima sieboldi being touched with a stick in Japan. It moves fast! Poor thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfGdmQdKWRg
Last but not least, there is an earthworm invasion of non-native, Asian earthworms in North America: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1656/058.008.0211 and http://blog.uvm.edu/jgorres/amynthas/
Apparently many earthworms invade non-native lands quite easily through wood and soil exports and even if caught between the hooves of animals such as goats and cattle… So, if this is was a photo of a real worm, my apologies for thinking it was not real!
I immediately thought “fishing lure”, but then remembered reading about giant earthworms. I looked up “blue earthworms” and found a species, Megascolex coeruleus. Here are a few links to images. The giant blue earthworms are native to Sri Lanka, not Tennessee. Megascolex are bioluminescent: http://eol.org/pages/3126682/overview
This is a mystery.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wildside-photography/10215959774/
http://www.agefotostock.com/en/Stock-Images/Rights-Managed/PUN-7093
… and then there is this curly-tail blue fishing lure, that sure looks like the submitted photo, for sale on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/371072622110?lpid=82