Osedax is a genus of deep-sea siboglinid polychaetes, commonly called boneworms, zombie worms, or bone-eating worms. Osedax is Latin for "bone-eater". The name alludes to how the worms bore into the bones of whale carcasses to reach enclosed lipids, on which they rely for sustenance. They utilize specialized root tissues for bone-boring.

The 1 to 3 inch (2 to 7 centimeter) Osedax worms were first discovered living in the bones of a rotting gray whale on the deep sea floor, nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) deep, in 2002.

Scientists working at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in 2004 discovered two new species of unique tube worms that feed on the bones of dead whales. The bone-eating worms are in a new genus called “Osedax,” which is Latin for “bone devourer.”

Dec 11, 2014 · The saga of the Osedax “bone-eating” worms began 12 years ago, with the first discovery of these deep-sea creatures that feast on the bones of dead animals. The Osedax story grew even stranger when researchers found that the large female worms contained harems of …

Jul 30, 2004 · We describe a new genus, Osedax, and two new species of annelids with females that consume the bones of dead whales via ramifying roots. Molecular and morphological evidence revealed that Osedax be...

Osedax, commonly known as bone-eating worms, are unusual marine annelids belonging to Siboglinidae and represent a remarkable example of evolutionary adaptation to a specialized habitat, namely sunken vertebrate bones.

Nov 10, 2009 · Bone-eating Osedax worms have proved to be surprisingly diverse and widespread. Including the initial description of this genus in 2004, five species that live at depths between 25 and 3,000 m in the eastern and western Pacific and …

Osedax is a genus of polychaete worms that live and feed on bones. These small animals are the reason that even the huge bones from baleen whales can disappear, sometimes within as little as a decade.

Jul 30, 2004 · We describe a new genus, Osedax, and two new species of annelids with females that consume the bones of dead whales via ramifying roots. Molecular and morphological evidence revealed that Osedax belongs to the Siboglinidae, which includes pogonophoran and vestimentiferan worms from deep-sea vents, s …

Additional Information References Encyclopedia of Life Tree of Life World Register of Marine Species National Center for Biotechnology Information Rouse, G.W., S.K. Goffredi, and R.C. Vrijenhoek (2004). Osedax: Bone-eating marine worms with dwarf males. Science, 305: 668-671. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1098650