The latest viral video is from the sewer under Cameron Village in Raleigh, NC. The mysterious creatures found are nothing short of disgusting and spectacular. This video has made its way to Video Sift and various cryptozoology sites. Speculations on the nature of this creature run from bryozoans, cnidarians, slime molds, and some mysterious alien creature here to suck out our brains. Well let me say first that it is none of the above. I can think of no freshwater Cnidarian that looks anything like this. It lacks the characteristic delineations that would indicate individual zooids in the colony and frankly the retracting of finger-like tentacles doesn’t seem like a bryozan characteristic (see the pictures at this site). In fact, I have poked a lot of invertebrates as lab instructor for invertebrate zoology and as a graduate student just for shits and giggles and none of the mentioned candidates would respond like this. So back to square one…
You shouldn’t trust me however…you should trust an expert in one of the aforementioned groups. Enter stage right Dr. Timothy S. Wood who is an expert on freshwater bryozoa and an officer with the International Bryozoology Association. I sent along the video and this was his reponse…
Thanks for the video – I had not see it before. No, these are not bryozoans! They are clumps of annelid worms, almost certainly tubificids (Naididae, probably genus Tubifex). Normally these occur in soil and sediment, especially at the bottom and edges of polluted streams. In the photo they have apparently entered a pipeline somehow, and in the absence of soil they are coiling around each other. The contractions you see are the result of a single worm contracting and then stimulating all the others to do the same almost simultaneously, so it looks like a single big muscle contracting. Interesting video.
More video of Tubifex
Could this be a colony of extremophiles? Such as subsurface endoliths?
[...] Deep Sea News has even sought the opinion of Dr Timothy S Wood, an expert on freshwater bryozoa and an officer with the International Bryozoology Association, who said:No, these are not bryozoans! They are clumps of annelid worms, almost certainly tubificids (naididae, probably genus Tubifex). Normally these occur in soil and sediment, especially at the bottom and edges of polluted streams. In the [video] they have apparently entered a pipeline somehow, and in the absence of soil they are coiling around each other. The contractions you see are the result of a single worm contracting and then stimulating all the others to do the same almost simultaneously, so it looks like a single big muscle contracting. Interesting video. __________________ SF-Motorport Hochzeits- und USA-Reise-Blog 2009 [...]
I’ve read/viewed just about every zoological book and forteana and/or text (in English, mainly) that has been published in the last 50 years or so or even later (this being my only claim to scholarship). There is no record of such an animal (or organism) as this that I can ever recall seeing or reading. This thing is very definitely new – and (worse?) it does not appear to be faked. One of the commentators on this video is definitely right – had the videographer been a biologist, they should have/would have ‘captured’ a specimen in a jar or container of formalin. Even a professional fisherman would have done that. Just send this video to a professional biologist, zoologist, paleontologist, zookeeper, museum person, fisherman or the like for their review and follow-up. A definite follow-up is strongly recommended for the professional! Again, this thing(s) does not appear in the records (to my knowledge) and needs further recording and study – preferentially by the professionals. No alarm is suggested until the results come back on this specimen. Further circulation of this video and images to non-professionals may be harmful to this study. In the meanwhile, if you are not one of the professionals studying this specimen, please do stay away if you possibly can…
That just doesn’t make any sense, the pictures of the worms look completely different than the ones in the video… You could actually distinguish the worms in the picture, this is all over the wall! Like a slime, the worms in the pictures look nothing like slime when they are in blobs. Also in the other videos, the worms didn’t look like they moved all at the same instant…This is too confusing!
Also, what do they eat? Do they not need any sunlight to live at all???
I know exactly what they are. Nice video Dr. M.
You require more Vespine Gas…
WOW.. ok first of all how can you not look past the slime and see the balls of white looking worms moving around.. I live in raleigh, and STATE STAFF BIOLOGIST comfirmed they were clumps of tubifex worms.. And yes such organisms exist. Alot think it’s bryozoans (which are known to clog pipes), but it isn’t. The only strange thing about it is how they somehow got into our sewer pipes..
So your saying tubifex worms can create a thik slimey sack around the colony, thats has muscle reactive contractions to a hot light? Look closely at the edges of the slimey membrane that clings to the wall. Thats not tubifex worms hidden beneath making it move, but the membrane itself reacting. So your suggesting a ton of tubifex worms in fact created a living membrane (aka another lifeform) to surround themselves and hold them up against the pipe wall? Also, why hasn’t anyone collected one of these weird pods, and posted a video of an autopsy on one of them? That would be the quickest way to not only find out what it is, but to also dismiss the crazy alien theories. I mean come on people. Seriously? An alien lifeform come to earth and is easily found in a sewer pipe?
MUST BUILD ADDITIONAL PYLONS!
As a Manager for Roto Rooter Plumbing in San Diego and a Master Plumber for over 20 years, I have seen THOUSANDS of sewer videos for private sewers and municipal mains. This video appears to be made inside a municipal line using a remote crawler with a pan and tilt camera in a clay tile pipe (unsure of the size, but it looks to be 8″ inside diameter, if that helps with your perspective).
I have repaired hundereds of sewers of various sizes up to 16″.
I have NEVER seen anything like this. REALLY SCARY! Please positivly identify these blobs, or I may have to go into early retirement, and you civilians will be on your own!
Sorry; I looked at it again. The video has an imprint text from the computer software for the municipality says the pipe is 6″ clay pipe and was taken from manhole #9. The video begins about 4 feet in from the manhole entry.
This was posted on June 30th, 2009 and it’s july 11th 2009. Why hasn’t anyone ripped one open and see? I mean, it’s not to hard to remove one from the wall. If it is warms, just by removing one from the wall you will be able to see what it is. Once someone cuts it up, all this would be settled.
Man, i bet the government is trying to cover this up. That’s why they made a guy say it’s just tubifex worms when mutation is causing these things OR they could be aliens/parasites.
To expand upon my previous post…
I grew up in Raleigh and have crawled through culverts, waded through creeks, rolled over rocks, and have seen just about every creature that is to be found in the area. Never have I come across anything that comes close in appearance/behavior/etc to this organism. In fact it does not come close to ANY organism that I have seen ANYWHERE during my tenure an outdoors-man cum armchair biologist. This thing has multiple, discreet organ systems. While colonies (such as coral and bee hives) may share supporting elements, nothing like the systems( reactive epidermis/musculature, submerged filter feeder tendrils and antenna) present in the vid could be of a communal manufacture.
My new question are these: Where is the rest of the footage? Where is the crew that made the discovery. Where may I find some of these on my own?
Ok, Prepare to feel stupid all you people who think you know what these creatures are.
Its a complete FAKE.
Besides the clean water running in the sewer and the fact that the camera only looks one way down the pipe that could be setup anywhere.
Look at the last “Creature”. You can clearly see a white string on the top that changes angle from the person pulling it.
You can see it on the first one as well.
Look again people.
AAH QUICK!!
KILL IT WITH FIRE BEFORE IS TOO LATE!!
srmuerte, you have no idea what you’re talking about and unless someone comes forth to claim that they perpetrated a hoax and explain how they did it, your asinine assumption means nothing. The matter has already been investigated by the local news. http://news14.com/Default.aspx?ArID=611427
[...] London Metro saw fit to include Craig’s post on the mystery sewer organism in print. The Metro article can also be found online as well, which actually mentions the [...]
[...] Creatures from the Sewer | Deep Sea News [...]
First off it looks to me like some type of cocoon from the alien movie. I mean it doesnt look to me at all like those worms. These worms in the other two videos are actually moving around and breaking off a little from each other. Now on the other hand the video in the sewer they do not get seperated and it seems to be one thing by itself.It’s dumb that all those people on youtube are saying it’s a colonoscopy so sad for people that think everything can be explained. This is definitely something that I think needs to be looked into. If these are just worms then why isn’t there footage of these worms in other sewers?
its just a close up under parses Hilton’s skirt god
This is in response to the guy who says it is setup. #1 Sewer water is 99.9 percent clean water, from showers, dishwashers washing machines, and if you knew anything that is what a typical video assessment of a sewer survey looks like exactly…..
And how exactly would you fake something like that?????
If you want to debunk it try harder and make some sense at least…
I agree that these are Tubifex or Blackworms, which are used to feed tropical fish. I have raised them for fish food and they consume bacteria and other pollution for their food and likely are beneficial, being the first stage of water treatment in this instance. Pet stores sell them in small portions and ordering them in bulk can range from $13. to $20. per pound.
[...] http://deepseanews.com/2009/06/creatures-from-the-sewer/ [...]
[...] del extraño ser vivo es otra. Según el Dr. Timothy S. Wood y gracias al post de DeepSeaNews (aquí) sabemos que en realidad son unos gusanos que crecen en aguas contaminadas y que de [...]
i dont get it tho if there worms then when the sac moves it pulls the outside of it back in so why is that it contracts the goo holding it on the wall and releases so how do worms control the outside sac?
I’ve watched all three of the videos, AND also viewed another tubifex worm video called, Tubifex on a plate. In that video, there was a large pile of tubifex in one clumpy mass, looking kind of like a piece of liver. When the guy poked it, the whole mass contracted at once, like the masses in the video. He then took a bunch of the worms and put them in a glass of water, where they behaved normally, with worms floating around individually.
I also READ a little bit about the worms, and they actually DO develop protective cysts. They love polluted areas, and though it is unusual that they should be in a sewer, until there is definitive proof that there is something else, I personally am going to have to agree with diagnosis: Tubifex.
thankyou for your post! I just came across this video and was so disturbed by it! Glad to know theres an explanation..though its still DISGUSTING
as much as I would want it to be some new species. Check this link out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-VDk61ayz8
they look pretty much the same as first vid
amazing video, god only knows what this is and where it evolved from, ill take that back, there is no such thing as god, just wondering what evolution tracks this organism has taken, amazing video
I don’t see anywhere where anyone has retrieved a specimen and verified what exactly it is yet. It seems that they haven’t even been verified yet that they are even biological.
I’ll respond that, reasonably, those ‘nodes’ may be tubifex swarms — only if others will admit the possibility that we may understand such nodes as being ethologically comparable to the aemobea that are also slime mold… you see?….
Like thriller movies. I’m afraid with it, really it.
i have seen this video on youtube, very interesting in deed, a bit eerie but its nature at its best
[...] in June 2009 when I was researching a story I did on the Cameron Village sewer monster. They had a story (and identification) on the creepy lifeform before any traditional media outlets. Now I’m a pretty frequent [...]
Nice footage. To the comments above: may be it’s not a single creature or colony of 1 species but a colony of several different species?
The worm-theory could still match (I believe). In these water conditions you could expect myxomycete (slime molds) to grow very fast.
Actually I saw something that looked perfectly like this two days ago: in a tea pot that somehow was forgotten with the tea bag still inside. Slime molds have covered it all up within just 3 days and transformed the bag totally. You never could tell what it was unless you really knew it.
If they can do this within just three days, think of what they can do to a sewer pipe within years. They would totally overgrow it and if there was a colony of worms I’m quite certain they would cover it up as well within a short time, making it look like anything – except a worm.
But actually I’m not a biologist, so I’m just guessing.
I’ve rechecked the footage. Take a look at index 1:10 to 1:25. Check the light spot to the left in the middle of the screen right at the edge of the “slime-ball”? See how it moves independently up and down. To me it perfectly looks like the tail (or head?) of a worm, covered up with the same slime you can see all over the rest of the sewer pipe.
I’m convinced that Dr. Wood is right about Tubifex.
I find myself pleased with Dr. Wood’s assessment. Since, there’s way of referencing the size of the pipes/critters from this video, people seem to be assuming that they are much larger than they really are. That water-way is probably less than a foot in diameter. Hence they had to send a little camera-bot.