Mollusks, Worms, Sponges, Starfish

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, who together discovered microRNA.

American Scientists Win Nobel Prize in Medicine for 'Groundbreaking' Gene Discovery Made by Studying Worms

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun discovered microRNA, tiny molecules that play a crucial role in how cells develop, paving the way for new treatments for diseases

A rarely seen whiplash squid swims more than 3,500 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

See Ten Strange and Mesmerizing Creatures From the Deep Ocean, From Sea Toads to Frilled Sharks

Scientists who explore the depths using submersibles continue to discover amazing animals that inhabit dark waters

A team of scientists in the Red Sea captured footage of a big blue octopus hunting with other fish species.

Watch Octopuses Team Up With Fish to Hunt—and Punch Those That Don't Contribute

The collaboration across species reveals a surprising social behavior of octopuses, researchers say

An artist imagines what Globidens alabamaensis would have looked like when present-day Texas was still submerged.

Rare Jaw Fossils Discovered in Texas Shed Light on a 20-Foot-Long Mosasaur

Unearthed last year, the remains could reveal new information on the extinct sea reptile, which crushed mollusks and shelled creatures with its large, round teeth

A researcher holds a juvenile queen conch. Adults can reach up to 12 inches in length.

Scientists Play Matchmaker for Beloved Sea Snails in the Florida Keys

To boost the iconic queen conch's population, researchers are relocating the heat-stressed creatures to cooler, deeper waters to help them find mates

A jar containing Ascaris, a parasitic worm that affects over one billion people worldwide

Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study Them?

Aging parasitologists are working hard to inspire more students to enter the field

Crews even used purple glue while adhering the vulcanized rubber track to its asphalt base.

Why Is the Paris Olympics Running Track Purple?

The track incorporates recycled mussel and clam shells in a bid to help make the Summer Games the most sustainable yet

Mai Fahmy captured videos of leeches jumping during two separate trips to Madagascar.

Watch Blood-Sucking Leeches Leap From Leaves and Soar Through the Air

New videos may help settle scientists' long-standing debate over whether leeches can jump

Laboratory testing found live Trichinella larvae in black bear meat that had been frozen for 110 days.

Family Members Infected With Parasitic Worms After Eating Undercooked Bear Meat at Reunion

Six people developed symptoms of roundworm infection after consuming grilled black bear meat and vegetables in July 2022, and all have since recovered

In the late 1960s, Bob Paine described the Pisaster sea star as a “keystone species” in Pacific Northwest tide pools. The concept has since taken on a life of its own.

Has the Term 'Keystone Species' Lost Its Meaning?

More than 50 years after Bob Paine’s experiment with starfish, hundreds of species have been pronounced “keystones” in their ecosystems

Orange elephant ear sponge, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ocean Sponge Skeletons Suggest a More Significant History of Global Warming Than Originally Thought

Analysis of the sea creatures’ skeletal chemistry suggests the world’s temperatures have increased by 1.7 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times

A hermit crab wears the top of a broken bottle as a shell.

Hermit Crabs Are Using Trash as Shells Across the World, Scientists Find

Researchers analyzed photographs of the crustaceans online, identifying nearly 400 examples of artificial shells, which were often plastic bottle caps

Ice worms spend most of the day burrowing their way through the cold, dark interior of the glacier, coming to the surface only in the afternoon to feed on algae and bacteria.

This Eight-Day Festival Celebrates One of Alaska's Weirdest Worms

Welcome to the Cordova Ice Worm Festival, a quirky local tradition honoring the mysterious creatures that live in glacial ice

Researchers examined how key genes behave across the sea star body by staining genetic material with fluorescent labels.

A Starfish 'Body' Is Just One Giant Head, Study Finds

Genes associated with the torso are largely absent in a species of starfish, upending how scientists perceive these creatures

The life cycle of the parasitic rat lungworm involves rats spreading it to snails and slugs, which pass it back to rats.

Parasitic, Invasive Worm Found in Rats in Georgia

While the worm can sicken people, few human infections have been reported in the U.S., and it typically doesn’t require treatment

Moose numbers have plummeted in Minnesota.

What's Killing Minnesota's Moose? Studies Reveal Sites of Deadly Brainworm Transmission

Carried by deer and spread by snails and slugs, a lethal parasite is infecting the large ungulates, which have recently declined dramatically

Doctors suspect the patient accidentally ingested the roundworm's eggs while foraging for edible greens near her home.

Doctors Pulled a Wriggling, Three-Inch Worm From a Woman's Brain

The incident in Australia is the first known occurrence of the roundworm—typically found in snakes—infecting the brain of a mammal

Fossilized poop, called coprolites, collected in Nong Yakong village, Chaiyaphum Province, Thailand. Coprolites are an important source for studying ancient parasites.

200-Million-Year-Old Poop Reveals Parasites That Infected a Crocodile-Like Reptile

The prehistoric fossil could help researchers understand the relationships between parasites and host organisms in the Late Triassic

Permafrost melts into the Kolyma River outside of Zyryanka, Russia, in 2019. The worms in the new study seem to have survived buried deep in the permafrost for tens of thousands of years.

Scientists Revive 46,000-Year-Old Roundworms From Siberian Permafrost

The nematodes had survived in a state of slowed metabolism called cryptobiosis, according to a new paper

A giant African land snail

Giant Snails Take Over Part of Florida—Again

Officials issued a quarantine to control the invasive species, which devours vegetation, damages structures and can carry a parasite dangerous to humans

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