The Miami Herald and Tahiti Infos newspapers highlighted the identification of two new species of spaghetti worms, Loimia aimehoensis and Loimia poraporaensis, in Polynesian lagoons by researchers at the EPOC laboratory.

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This discovery is the result of collaboration between Australian researchers Pat Hutchings and Chris Glasby, as well as Nicolas Lavesque and Guillemine Daffe from the EPOC laboratory. Spaghetti worms get their name from their numerous tentacles, which they use to search the sediment for food.

Loimia aimehoensis and Loimia poraporaensis were discovered during a dive by Pat Hutchings while on holiday in Polynesia. Knowing that few worm collections had been made in the region, she kept them in her hotel room refrigerator and brought them back to a laboratory in Australia. For several years, these specimens remained in refrigerators before being identified by our researchers in the laboratory.

‘These worms live everywhere, from estuaries to the deep sea, from the poles to coral reefs,’ says Nicolas Lavesque of the EPOC laboratory.

©Nicolas Lavesque : Vers spaghettis Serpulidae

Article from the Miami Herald newspaper: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article299863244.html

Article from the Tahiti Info newspaper: https://www.tahiti-infos.com/Deux-especes-de-vers-spaghettis-decouvertes-en-Polynesie_a228775.html

Informations EPOC – february 2025