No, we're not describing some 80s horror B-movie.
A "bone worm" or "zombie worm" is a worm in the genus Osedax that uses bone melting acid to eat the skeletons of water mammals!!
Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have been studying how the worms use their bone destroying acid to get at the delicious nutrients inside.
A researcher said:
"The acid presumably allows the worms to release and absorb collagen and lipids that are trapped in bone. This model is remarkably similar to how mammals repair and remodel bone; however Osedax secrete acid to dissolve foreign bone and access nutrients."
The worms usually feed on whale carcasses but also sometimes fish bones.
Either way, they don't eat people as they sleep, so you're okay… for now.
Just whatever you do, don't be a dead whale! LOLz!
[Image via Robert C. Vrijenhoek, Shannon B. Johnson & Greg W. Rouse/Wikimedia Commons.]
Tags: acid, bone, bone worms, dead, water mammal, whale, worms, zombie, zombie worms