For those who were kept awake nights, wondering what the hell that thing in a North Carolina sewer was — Anyone but me? No? Well, screw it, I’ve got an update for you anyway.
Thanks to Xeni Jardin over at Boing Boing, who found this story on i09, which confirms that the thing is real, and not a special effect.
But aside from confirming its existence, the director of environmental services for the the city of Raleigh can’t say what it is, or even if anything will be done about it.
The video was taken in a private sewer system by a private contractor working for them. It does not belong to the City of Raleigh nor will it reach the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant. This is the response from our director: “The video is of the private sanitary sewer in the Cameron Village and was taken by a private contractor working for them and not taken by our staff. The blob has been identified by others as worms.”
The Raleigh News and Observer investigated as well, and it says bryozoans, which was my guess.
Actually, the sewer monster is made up of thousands of tiny organisms called bryozoans, or moss animacules, said N.C. State University biologist Thomas Kwak. Invertebrates, they bunch together in colonies and feed with tiny tentacles.
“They can get as big as the size of a watermelon,” he said.
But according to yet another Internet posting, the thing is not made of bryozoans. It’s actually a clump of Tubifex worms writhing in the sewage.
No, these are not bryozoans! They are clumps of annelid worms, almost certainly tubificids (Naididae, probably genus Tubifex). Normally these occur in soil and sediment, especially at the bottom and edges of polluted streams. In the photo they have apparently entered a pipeline somehow, and in the absence of soil they are coiling around each other. The contractions you see are the result of a single worm contracting and then stimulating all the others to do the same almost simultaneously, so it looks like a single big muscle contracting.
OK, gang. Mystery solved. Everyone back in the van, and it’s off to the malt shop for dancing and Scooby snacks.
3 Comments
July 7, 2009 at 10:40 am
WordPress ftw:
“Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Don’t Look. Seriously, don’t.
Creatures from the Sewer
Defense Contractors (Part One)”
July 7, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Hmmm, that was interesting. Looks like somethings will always remain mystery.
I myself has been trying to solve the mystery of this legend for a wile now. Could not understand much though.
Let me know in case you get to understand the mystery of the Old Hound and the Legend
By the way, good writing style. I’d love to read more on similar topics
July 16, 2009 at 9:41 am
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