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Gone Fission 140

Posted by michael from the live-bait dept.
Eddie writes "Just when you thought it was safe to go back into that snakehead fishpond behind the shopping center in Crofton, Md., now comes word of a new threat slithering into our environment - "nuclear worms" from Vietnam carrying cholera and other deadly diseases." There are a bunch of blurbs here and there about these worms - apparently this Washington Post story was the origin of most of them.
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Gone Fission More

Gone Fission

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  • On behalf of the worm people... (Score:3, Funny)

    by wo1verin3 ( 473094 ) on Monday August 12, 2002 @02:55AM (#4053014) Homepage
    "Leave us alone you ugly bags of mostly water"

    • Re:On behalf of the worm people... (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Paramount Legal Department.

      Re: Cease and desist

      It has come to our attention that the website "Slashdot.org" has violated U.S. copyright laws concerning intellectual property. The offending evidience is as follows:

      '"Leave us alone you ugly bags of mostly water"'

      The term, "ugly bags of mostly water" is the intellectual property of Paramount Studios, which is protected under U.S. copyright law. Please remove the offending term or my client will have to take action against "Slashdot.org" and its subsidiaries under U.S. copyright law.

      The term was first used in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" titled "Home Soil", which aired on 02/22/1988, well before todays date of 08/12/2002.

      We herby declare you cease and desist all violations of copyright law which involve intellectual property owned by Paramount Studios.
      Please respond withing 3 working days.

      Thank you and have a good day.

      Paramount Legal Department.
  • A fluorescent, hot pink worm, having diarrhea. Now this I have to see.

  • Speaking of pink worms... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Verizon Guy ( 585358 ) on Monday August 12, 2002 @02:58AM (#4053018) Homepage
    I am reminded of this [comedycentral.com] comic....
  • Against giving animals stupid geeky names. "Nuclear Worms"? Seriously, what genius came up with that one?

  • Bad idea (Score:3, Insightful)

    by coryboehne ( 244614 ) on Monday August 12, 2002 @03:16AM (#4053051)
    I really hate to see people importing forgein plants and animal species into this country without really stopping to think as to what the consequences could be. These worms not only have the potential to wipe out certain bi-valves. The article seems to imply that they really don't know what damage they could do. A bit of research would be a great idea. Anything that can survive on the dash of a hot car for 3 days is a serious ecological threat. However the northern states have little to worry about, since the worms can't live under 68 degrees there is little chance of a problem occuring there, however florida in particluar could have some SERIOUS problems, since these breed in mangroves (florida has plenty) and florida does'nt really get cold enough to kill them off, there is a great likely-hood of these gaining a foot-hold there. Like I said, bad idea, really bad idea.
    • Importing? They get sucked into the ballast tanks of freighters from other countries, and then deposited into SF Bay when they dump the bilge for the return trip. Importing is the least of your worries. Hundreds of species of crab, worm, snail, insect, etc. arrive every year without the help of importers. You want to worry about it, check out the bay.
      • While we may panic, you'd have to imagine that our species get dumped in their bays as well....
      • Not only are you correct, but the USA and Canada had to institute some major changes in ballast water changing.

        For those not following, Ballast water is used to stablize the vessel by providing dead weight at key points. when a vessel enters a different density water they swap the water out for the new density.

        currently what the government of the USA and Canada are requesting is that all ballast water be filtered, and that the first change of water should be 6 to 12 miles off shore. And changing water in the seas is a high risk because the vessel will be slightly unstable.

        ONEPOINT
      • a good example in my area is the zebra muscle. came into the great lakes via the st. lawrance seaway and is not working its way inland via people bringing their boats inland from lake michgain.

        gunlake is starting to have a major problem with them.

    • VERY Bad idea (Score:5, Funny)

      by squaretorus ( 459130 ) on Monday August 12, 2002 @03:53AM (#4053116) Homepage Journal
      That sounds like exactly what I was saying when the first Starbucks arrived in Scotland. Everyone thought that it was pretty cool that a coffee could come in so many different ways - and that biscuits had italian sounding names!

      But pretty soon they had ousted most of the indiginous coffee places, and even quite a few other minority species like good record shops, and cheap wineries.

      Now all you see for miles around is shops with silver chairs and tables out the front and streets littered with empty 4 gallon coffee cups.

      I drive over the cups whenever I see them, which I take to be their eggs or young. And I refuse to give them the money they need to survive. Some day I am sure they will suffocate us. There are no food shops within a mile of my home now, but there are 4 starbucks. My how things change...
      • Now all you see for miles around is shops with silver chairs and tables out the front and streets littered with empty 4 gallon coffee cups.

        Man I don't think I want to see how jittery those 4 gallon coffee drinkers must get. That's like 1-2 gallons of real coffee!
      • You might want to introduce some natural predators to keep the Starbucks population in check.

        -
      • There are no food shops within a mile of my home now, but there are 4 starbucks.

        Reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Bart is in the mall and they're taking out a store to put in a new Starbucks...right next to the one that's already there!

  • Threat? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Lord Bitman ( 95493 )
    The article seems to be presenting this as a good thing. Any imported animals are likely to cary disease, and they're a new import so it just needs to be found out what safeguards and restrictions should apply, just like fruit.
    Just another developement in the modern way of making everything /bigger/. And this one seems to have come about naturally, no mention of any genetic engineering, and for everybody who doesnt bother to read the article: "Nuclear" Worms is just a name. Come up with to market the things. These are just animals being brought from one region to another. Like horses. But getting chopped into bits after the sale.
    Any "Threat" is more likely going to be based on survival-of-the-fittest, not some non-obscure diseases which happen to be in some worms which have been imported for years with no related cases of illness.
    • I disagree with your assessment of risk, there Bitman.

      "some non-obscure disease" is exactly what we should be worried about. Have you taken your anti-malaria pills recently? Oh- you don't have to where you live... yet..

  • Great! (Score:2, Funny)

    by DTC ( 450482 )
    You can dial up more than 50 Internet sources for living things that wriggle, creep and crawl. They can be in your mailbox tomorrow via FedEx.


    Not only can I get worms that carry viruses via e-mail in my Outlook mailbox, thanks to M$, I can now get them in my P.O. box via snail-mail thanks to FedEx!

  • Where is the punchline? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by jopet ( 538074 )
    I wonder how this article ever got accepted. I bet a lot of articles 10 times more relevant and interesting to the slashdot community than this one have been rejected.
    • I agree. It's interesting but doesn't belong on Slashdot.

      'nuff said
    • You're operating under the assumption that submissions are reviewed. That's clearly hogwash. Worm stories may satisfy a juvenile urge to talk about things that squirm, but as you point out, they aren't that interesting and are obviously filler to get us to load the ads and up the counts.

      Submissions are apparently only used as a source of amusement. The so-called 'editors' use a dartboard to decide what makes it on the main page....that and a 'good old boy' network which, like most cliques, operates behind the scenes in a smoke filled room.

      "Ignore the man behind the curtain!"
      • Blockquoth the poster:

        that and a 'good old boy' network which, like most cliques, operates behind the scenes in a smoke filled room.

        Um, aren't the editors more or less explicit about this? From the FAQ:
        Deciding the interest level of a story is a very subjective thing, and we have to take into account not only the intrinsic interest of the story itself, but what else is happening that day. On a day when lots of things are happening, we reject some very good stories. But on a day when nothing interesting is happening, we may post something not really as cool. [* [slashdot.org]]
        I've always worked very hard to make sure that Slashdot matches up with my interests and the interests of my authors. We think we're pretty typical Slashdot readers... but that does mean that occasionally one of us might post something that you think is inappropriate... Slashdot has been running for almost 3 years, and over that time, I have always been the final decision maker ... [A]nd if we occasionally want to post something that someone doesn't think is right for Slashdot, well, we're the ones who get to make the call.[* [slashdot.org]]
    • Next week, when I'll see

      This page was generated by a Bucket of Vietnamese Nuclear Worms for Hittite Creosote...

    • So this is how you gripe on slashdot.
      I griped [slashdot.org] and became a troll.
      • *shrug* - so what - I hardly read slashdot anymore, because stories tend to have a niveau targetted at 14 year old male computer nerds who are busy fighting puberty. This article is marks a new low. If it goes on like this I'll probably better switch over to WWN [weeklyworldnews.com].
    • "Heh. What kind of superhero do you turn into when one of these things bites you?" *Rimshot*

      No, don't bother thanking me--just doing my job.

  • They don't carry cholera! (Score:4, Informative)

    by ngtni ( 470389 ) on Monday August 12, 2002 @03:29AM (#4053079)
    From the WP article...

    > Early imports were packed in material found to
    > contain the pathogen that causes cholera,
    > though no cases resulted.

    It was the packaging, not the worms, that were the problem. I just thought I'd clear that up for anyone who didn't read the full WP article. :)

    • Re:They don't carry cholera! (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I just thought I'd clear that up for anyone who didn't read the full WP article. :)

      ie. The entire Slashdot population.
    • It was the packaging, not the worms, that were the problem. I just thought I'd clear that up for anyone who didn't read the full WP article.

      Also from the article:

      But tests conducted this spring by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Anne Arundel County found that
      the worms and their packing material contained three species of the bacterium vibrio. One of them attacks oysters and can cause serious illness in people, [...]. [italics mine]

      Thought i'd clear that up for those who didn't read the article closely. :)

  • If we are going to go ballistic... (Score:5, Funny)

    by tlambert ( 566799 ) on Monday August 12, 2002 @03:31AM (#4053082)
    If we are going to go ballistic over non-native species, then we should start by wiping out all the pigeons in North and South America, please.

    -- Terry
  • if only it has some bloody pictures at least!
  • I guess 2am sunday morning isn't the pintical of news. This doesn't exactly go in my, "Stuff I"m glad I know", file.
  • That must be the worst joke I've ever heard.

  • No picture? (Score:3, Funny)

    by JPriest ( 547211 ) on Monday August 12, 2002 @03:59AM (#4053125) Homepage
    How do you have a story about a nearly fluorescent 5-7 foot worm and not include a picture? Maybe it should also be A.K.A. vapoworm(tm)
    • I was wondering the same thing.

      The University of Guam has a write-up and photo [uog.edu] of Namalycastis hawaiiensis which is not the same species as the Vietmanese worm, but it's the only one I could find in the same Genus.

  • Some research... (Score:5, Informative)

    by powerlinekid ( 442532 ) on Monday August 12, 2002 @04:03AM (#4053127)
    When I first saw this I thought "yeah, ok", but after some googling it appears that they are actually real and not some washington post made up crap. This link [216.239.51.100]
    Maryland Marine Notes which discusses concerns for Chesapeake bay mentions how the Department of Natural Resources classifies the "nuclear worm" on their list of no known problems but potentially dangerous creatures.This one is by the US Wildlife field service: [216.239.51.100]
    more info I've been trying to find a photo but everyone has the same info... basically wildlife angencies are trying to figure out what the hell it is and how dangerous it is... fisherman use it as bait, and the press hypes up the "nuclear" part of it by saying it was created by agent orange and napalm. The actual name nuclear worm was made up by a bait salesman on chesapeake bay because it sounded good. *rolls eyes*

    • Re:Some research... (Score:3, Informative)

      by DTC ( 450482 )
      Here's a picture [216.239.39.100], but the image isn't very large.
      • I saw that picture on a search for Namalycastis abiuma which is the genus the worm falls under. However, theres at least 3 types and the vietnamese "nuclear worm" isn't one of the classified ones. With this in mind, I figured that the pic wasn't of the right worm. However from what I've read, if you've seen one namalycastis abiuma then you've seen them all, although a 7 foot, diameter of a finger, hot pink worm would be kinda cool looking.

        • Re:Some research... (Score:2, Informative)

          by DTC ( 450482 )
          From here [uga.edu] (no google cache)

          Taxonomic Details for Namalycastis abiuma
          Kingdom Animalia
          Phylum Annelida
          Class Polychaeta
          Order Phyllodocida
          Genus Taxonomic Details for Namalycastis abiuma
          Kingdom Animalia
          Phylum Annelida
          Class Polychaeta
          Order Phyllodocida
          Genus Namalycastis
          Species abiuma
          Habitats Brackish water marsh, Fresh water marsh
          Researcher Dale Bishop, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

          Pardon me if I'm incorrect (it been quite few years since I've taken Biology) but, as you can see, the genus is Namalycastis and the species is abiuma. So the picture of the pink worm should be what we're looking for. The description of the photo lists it as such.

    • Re:Some research... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Vulture_ ( 106594 )
      fisherman use it as bait, and the press hypes up the "nuclear" part of it by saying it was created by agent orange and napalm.
      That's so far from what was actually said in the article that it's not even funny. I'll blockquote what was really said:
      It's the Nuclear Worm (genus Namalycastis), Vietnam's biological revenge for all that napalm and Agent Orange 30 years ago.
      This is not saying that the worm was created by napalm or Agent Orange. Read it a little more carefully.
      • Article: "It's the Nuclear Worm (genus Namalycastis), Vietnam's biological revenge for all that napalm and Agent Orange 30 years ago."

        Vulture: "This is not saying that the worm was created by napalm or Agent Orange. Read it a little more carefully."

        The way I read it and still read it is that the Washington post is implying that napalm and Agent Orange caused a biological series of events that led to this mutated worm. "Caused", "series of events" and "mutated" are my words, but I think the article explicitly implies some sort of cause-effect relationship but makes no effort to explain or prove it.

        It's a total hype story, but I see reason for concern over importing something that will, sooner or later, be released alive into the wild. I'm glad that the appropriate departments are checking into it.

        Okay, now that I'm remembering my high school English grammar and sentence diagramming, maybe you're right. "Biological" is an adjective. It's Vietnam's revenge, and that revenge is biological in nature. It's not biology's revenge, but that's how I read it the first few times.

        Still I'm cynical enough to think that the Post wanted the casual reader to make a cause-effect connection, though. (Besides, who likes diagramming sentences?)
        • The way I read it and still read it is that the Washington post is implying that napalm and Agent Orange caused a biological series of events that led to this mutated worm.

          You listen to Art Bell, don't you? Do you also think that the phrase "Montezuma's Revenge" means that the Aztecs were genetic engineers? It's not a matter of diagramming sentences, it's using common sense.

          It's not like they dropped a Arakkan sandworm in Mnemosyne.

          --
          Evan

  • i'm finding mention of these worms from as far back as '98 in fishing sources.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/travel/inde x/ stories/tidwell08301998.htm

    and I think i found the reporter's tracks, too:
    http://www.atbeach.com/fishtalk/messages/294 1.html

    this being so, does it really have relevance or is it a reporter making hype? if it weren't hot pink, would anyone care?

    secondly, does anyone have a picture? I can't find anything through google. i'm certainly curious. also, can anyone link pics of the chernobyl worms a friend of mine just told me about? how strange the world is...
  • The Scientific name mentioned in one of the Maryland Marine Notes links articles "Namalycastis abiuma" according to another source (Manual for Watershed Health and Water Quality [osd.mil]) is:

    Scientific Name: Namalycastis abiuma
    Description: Segmented white thread-like worm with pad-like legs on every segment; living in vegetation and leaf litter in streams and ponds. Can reach up to 2 cm.
  • First we get news of fricken laser beams, now we have mutated, ill tempered..... uh......... worms.

    and all on the same day we get an article that holywood is down the tubes, must be a slow geek day!

  • Eek (Score:3, Funny)

    by ChrisJones ( 23624 ) <`cmsj-slashdot' `at' `tenshu.net'> on Monday August 12, 2002 @04:27AM (#4053158) Homepage Journal
    Is this the start of a Goa'uld like species? Are we all going to be enslaved by snakeheads thanks to the US government tipping thousands of tons of exotic chemicals on the world?! ;)
  • like, umm, err, you guys in us of a don't have any greater threats to your environment? haven't imported anything LOT WORSE like? what i personally dislike very much in this article is the naming of the worms, and how the whole article gloats on that, and simply assumes that the worms got made in some pond that had a) lot of agent orange b) lot of other bad stuff, and no, it doesn't actually say so, but it lets you believe it.. and reporters should really THINK before they type nuclear into anything these days.. especially if it's likely to be read by n+1-number of people that don't have brains and will start YELLING FOR BLOOD, I MEAN OMG! VIETNAMS ARE GOING TO KILL US WITH NUCLEAR WORMS!!!!!!!!!!!
  • If 42 persons, who want SOMETHING and their NAME, written on Slashdot, post an article about fish baits you instantly turn the site into a fishing portal. Great service, our feedback matters! If an article contains the words "nuclear" and "worm" it has gotta be interesting, right? It would be interesting to know how many of these submissions were posted under "security".
  • 1) Starlings, imported by a nutter who wanted all the birds from Shakespear in the US.

    2) The British, Spanish, French, Germans, Irish etc

    3) The not so "Native" Americans (2 millions years ago... I think not)

    4) Mammals... 200 million years ago

    5) The planet, 10 billion years ago it wasn't there.

    Good God, George Bush is the ultimate environmental fundamentalist, he wants to return the planet to its original state... dust :-)
  • from the article:

    "... live-worm imports alone were a $70 million business in the US from 1998 to 2000."

    And here I've been trying to make a living working with computers like a sucker... WORMS FOR SALE!!!!!

  • aha!
    Combine this with Lasers [slashdot.org], and big, pink, bad worms..

    I can finally play real worms. Bananna bombs ahoy!
  • Now i can finally build my RADEOAKTIV WURM GUN!
    Still need that NUK tho...

    (looks worriedly around and wonders if ANYONE else remembers the old Future vs. Fantasy Quake mod...)
  • I bet I fish more than 99.999% of the folks that read this (about 5 days a week from April-November) and even I can't believe Slashdot is now doing bait-and-tackle articles.

  • good god. (Score:3, Funny)

    by kin_korn_karn ( 466864 ) on Monday August 12, 2002 @09:08AM (#4053566) Homepage
    The H1-B program really IS getting out of hand.
  • These worms aren't sold for fishing...

    They're sold for "fisting."

    Really, you don't want to know.
  • $25,000 of business is "explosive"?
    No photos? One weak story copied by
    several weak editors
    Ites says: for the full scoop, please
    interview the worms and find out how
    they feel about being imported in unclean
    boxes, chopped into little pieces, and
    used as fishbait.
    Not to mention the insulting name.
  • I have not seen such a poorly reported, uninformative article as this in a long time.
  • The species in question is Namalycastis Abiuma.

    A picture can be found here. [uno.edu]

    The same Article Text and a better picture of the monstrous bugger can be found Here. [boatersdream.com] Scary lil bastard eh?

    Can't find much out there on the actual habits of the lil bugger. I user a vermicomposter with redworms [cityfarmer.org] to reprocess kitchen vegetable waste for the garden. Anyone know how well these little(?!?) monsters eat? Be interesting to toss one in a bin, and see how it does.
  • will now be pulled from the libraries. Geesh. And that was one of my favorite books too...

    All the worm recepies inside... yummy.
  • "the nuclear worm has been welcomed into Chesapeake Bay bait buckets like a bloodworm wired on Viagra."

    Say what? I don't think I'd be welcoming any worms on Viagra to anywhere.
  • Just a little bigger and I'm making a thumper and some Maker hooks...

    The spice must flow!
  • >There are a bunch of blurbs here and there about these worms - apparently this Washington Post story was the origin of most of them

    I wondered what the origin of most of the worms was.

    People used to think worms appeared spontaneously in rotting meat. Now we know it actually happens in newspaper stories.
  • No where in this article is it implied that these things have actually gotten loose. The only thing that is remotly interesting in the article is that its called a "Nuclear" worm. In reality there is nothing "Nuclear" about it. That is just a marketing ploy. Introduced species present a large threat to our environment, however this worm, thus far, has not presented any real threat. I have to admit though I do like the title: Gone Fission, if I thought that up I would probably post it too.

  • Wow (Score:1)

    by Skavookie ( 3659 )
    Washington Post makes worms now?

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