Shipworm

SHIPWORM is not a worm but a bivalve, a marine species of burrowing CLAM, also known as a teredo. It burrows into, eats and eventually destroys unprotected submerged wood. Floating in the water during the larval stage, it settles on the underwater portions of boomed logs, wharves, pilings and boat hulls and with its tiny shells begins to bore inward. As the clam grows, its shells (valves) develop rasping edges which precede the animal like voracious jaws, while the body grows backwards out of...

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