Taiwan stirs over strange creatures

A green, worm-like creature with a long pink tongue clinging to the ground has caught the attention of many Taiwanese.

Strange creature with pink trunk, clinging to the ground. Photo: Telegraph

The Telegraph yesterday published a photo shared by Taiwanese Wei Cheng Jia on his personal Facebook page. Mr. Wei encountered this strange creature while fishing at a port in Penghu, Taiwan.

It resembled a long, green, jelly-like worm. It crawled and extended a pink tongue that slithered along the ground. Some joked that it might be an alien.

However, Grindtv quoted Dr. Dean Grubbs, University of Florida, affirming that "this is definitely a Nemerta worm. Its identifying feature is the long proboscis used for hunting, which can be as long as its body."

These worms live deep in tropical or subtropical waters. However, some individuals can live on land in cool, moist places.

Nemertean flatworms have a special proboscis which they use when hunting. They will push the proboscis out of their bodies and cover their prey in a thick, toxic mucus that paralyzes it. Most Nemertean flatworms are 20 cm long, with some reaching 54 m.

According to VnExpress