Creature from the Pothole Lagoon

PageRob · Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 859 Location: Page, Az.

Okay, we were up on Cedar Mesa on Monday, and in a pothole we came across what we first thought was a string or piece of plant debris. It was moving in the pothole, and at first we thought it was being moved by currents or the sun or something, but nothing else was moving in the pothole. It was maybe 9-12 inches long, black, and as thin as a thread. On end was moving more than the other, "looking" or "searching" I supposed. We lifted it up out of the pothole on a stick and it folded itself over the stick as soon as it was out of the water, still moving a little. We put it back in the water and it began moving more. Eventually it curled up its "rear" (the end that wasn't moving as much) into a tight coil under a leaf, but the "front" kept moving. We left soon afterwards, because we had to get back to the trailhead. Any idea what it was/could have been? I've never seen anything like it before in any other pothole. I'll post pics and a video when I get home tonight, I'm in Marble Canyon today.
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AFScout80 · Joined: 16 May 2007 Posts: 82 Location: Colorado

Hey man, that sounds like a horsehair worm. A SERE (Survival) Instructor pulled one out of stagnant water when we were rucking up in Washington State. It was very thin, dark brown or black and almost a foot long. It was moving slowly and putting the movement aside, it did not look like a living creature. He went on to explain that when they are in their young larvae stage (in water) they are parasitic and are looking for a host. Usually in small animals, predominantly insects. He said when they reach a certain point in growth, they will leave the host and survive by themselves in water.
During that 8 day trip in the woods we were purifying our water with iodine tabs which isn't purifying at all...it just coats the bacteria to pass through your body safely. I will tell you though, that i did not #*!@ around with stagnant water at all after that, although to this day I am unsure whether these larvae parasites can use humans as a host...i will look that up.
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GTG · Posted: 6/1/2007, 10:21 am Post subject: horsehair worms and such

I saw these and pointed them out on the West Fork Wade a few years ago. I looked them up then and they seem to only parasitize insects. They grow inside an insect and then somehow force the insect to seek water and then emarge fully developed. Here's a video I found of a worm exiting a cricket. -
http://thatvideosite.com/video/3742

GTG
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Shawn · Posted: 6/1/2007, 11:11 am Post subject:

"a video I found of a worm exiting a cricket."

Oh God, puuleeeeze, I can't bring myself to open that link.
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evenstar · Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 5548 Location: SCW by way of CA

YH · Posted: 6/1/2007, 11:33 am Post subject:

evenstar · Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 5548 Location: SCW by way of CA

GTG · Posted: 6/1/2007, 11:48 am Post subject:

AFScout80 · Joined: 16 May 2007 Posts: 82 Location: Colorado

evenstar · Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 5548 Location: SCW by way of CA

OK, I put up a poll to help YH pick an Avatar Razz

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YH · Posted: 6/1/2007, 1:40 pm Post subject:

YH · Posted: 6/1/2007, 1:45 pm Post subject:

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