Creepy poisonous fireworm with a ‘beard’ caught by an angler in Texas, video shows
The fish had been biting for this angler on a beautiful day in Texas when suddenly they stopped.
That’s when Alyssa Ramirez reeled in her fishing line from a pier in Port Isabel, thinking perhaps her bait had fallen off, she told McClatchy News.
When the end of her line emerged, she thought seaweed had gotten tangled in her hook on Feb. 15. A closer look proved otherwise.
“I laughed and realized it was not a fish, nor seaweed, but a worm,” Ramirez told McClatchy. “A worm with bristles and a red body ready to protect itself.”
Video shows the worm on the fishing pier, wriggling its body and bristles. Ramirez showed the video to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
“Judging by the colors, I knew not to touch it,” Ramirez said. “But I was still curious.”
The agency identified the marine animal as a bearded fireworm, which is “named for its painful sting.”
“These fireworms spend most of their time on the ocean floor but will flare out their bristles when disturbed,” according to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Bearded fireworms are typically only a few inches long, but even a touch can be problematic, according to Science and the Sea, a website of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.
“Tiny bristles on its flanks can inject a powerful neurotoxin,” according to the website. “The site of the wound feels like it’s on fire — a sensation that can last for hours.”
The bearded fireworm hides under rocks in the daytime but comes out at night to eat on the remains of dead sea creatures or even “gobble of small living organisms,” the website says.
“Most of the time, the fireworm gently scuttles across the ocean floor,” the website says. “When it’s disturbed, though, it flares out its bristles, forming a protective halo. Anything that ignores the bristles receives a painful sting.”
Ramirez said the fireworm she caught fell back into the water after she took photos and video.
“The species can survive for a short period out of the water as long as it doesn’t get too hot or too dry,” Texas Parks and Wildlife said.