View source for Shipworm

{{short description|Family of molluscs}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Lead too short|date=June 2023}}
{{Expand French|topic=scitech|Teredinidae|date=December 2010}}
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{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Shipworm
| image = Shipworm.jpg
| image_caption = This dried specimen of ''[[Teredo navalis]]'', and the calcareous tunnel that originally surrounded it and curled into a circle during preservation, were extracted from the wood of a ship. The two valves of the shell are the white structures at the anterior end; they are used to dig the tunnel in the wood.
| display_parents = 3
| taxon = Teredinidae
| authority = [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Rafinesque]], 1815
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = See text
}}

The '''shipworms''', also called '''teredo worms''' or simply '''teredo''' ({{etymology|grc|''{{Wikt-lang|grc|τερηδών}}'' ({{grc-transl|τερηδών}})|wood-worm}}, via [[Latin]] {{Wikt-lang|la|terēdō}}), are [[marine life|marine]] [[bivalve]] [[mollusc]]s in the family '''Teredinidae''', a group of saltwater [[clam]]s with long, soft, naked bodies. They are notorious for boring into (and commonly eventually destroying) wood that is immersed in [[seawater]], including such structures as wooden [[pier]]s, [[dock]]s, and ships; they drill passages by means of a pair of very small shells ("[[valve (mollusc)|valves]]") borne at one end, with which they rasp their way through. They are sometimes called "termites of the sea".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garcia |first=Sierra |date=2021-12-24 |title=How "Termites of the Sea" Have Shaped Maritime Technology |url=https://daily.jstor.org/how-termites-of-the-sea-have-shaped-maritime-technology/ |access-date=2022-05-01 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Carl Linnaeus]] assigned the [[common name]] ''[[Teredo (genus)|Teredo]]'' to the best-known genus of shipworms in the 10th edition of his [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic]] ''[[magnum opus]]'', ''[[Systema Naturae|Systema Naturæ]]'' (1758).

== Characteristics ==
[[File:PSM V13 D568 Teredo navalis.jpg|thumb|''Teredo navalis'' from ''[[Popular Science Monthly]]'', September 1878]]

Removed from its burrow, the fully grown teredo ranges from several centimeters to about a meter in length, depending on the species. An average adult shipworm measures {{convert|4|to|6|in|cm|0|order=flip}} in length and less than {{convert|1/4|in|mm|0|order=flip|abbr=on}} in diameter, but some species grow to considerable size.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Castagna |first1=Michael |title=Shipworms and Other Marine Borers |url=https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy-pdfs/leaflet505.pdf |website=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |publisher=United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Bureau of Commercial Fisheries |access-date=30 November 2023 |ref=Fisheries Leaflet 505}}</ref>

The body is cylindrical, slender, naked, and superficially [[Wiktionary:vermiform|vermiform]] (worm-shaped). In spite of their slender, worm-like forms, shipworms possess the characteristic [[Morphology (biology)|morphology]] of [[bivalve]]s. The [[Ctenidium (mollusc)|ctinidia]] lie mainly within the branchial [[Siphon (mollusc)|siphon]], through which the animal pumps the water that passes over the [[gill]]s. The two siphons are very long and protrude from the [[Anatomical terms of location|posterior]] end of the animal. Where they leave the end of the main part of the body, the siphons pass between a pair of calcareous plates called pallets. If the animal is alarmed, it withdraws the siphons and the pallets protectively block the opening of the tunnel.

The pallets are not to be confused with the two valves of the main shell, which are at the [[Anatomical terms of location|anterior]] end of the animal. Because they are the organs that the animal applies to boring its tunnel, they generally are located at the tunnel's end. They are borne on the slightly thickened, muscular anterior end of the cylindrical body and they are roughly triangular in shape and markedly concave on their interior surfaces. The outer surfaces are convex and in most species are deeply sculpted into sharp grinding surfaces with which the animals bore their way through the wood or similar medium in which they live and feed. The valves of shipworms are separated and the aperture of the [[Mantle (mollusc)|mantle]] lies between them. The small "foot" (corresponding to the foot of a clam) can protrude through the aperture.

When shipworms bore into submerged wood, bacterial symbionts embedded within a sub-organ called the typhlosole in the shipworm gut, aid in the digestion of the wood particles ingested,<ref name="Goodell2024TyphSymbIBB">{{cite journal|author=Goodell, B.|author2= J. Chambers|author3= D. V. Ward|author4= C. Murphy|author5= E. Black|author6= L. B. Kikuti Mancilio|author7= G. Perez- Gonzalez|author8= J. R. Shipway|year=2024|title=First report of microbial symbionts in the digestive system of shipworms; wood boring mollusks|journal=International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation|volume=192|issn=0964-8305|doi=10.1016/j.ibiod.2024.105816|bibcode= 2024IBiBi.19205816G|doi-access= free}}</ref> The ''Alteromonas'' or ''Alteromonas''-sub-group of bacteria identified as the symbiont species in the typhlosole, are known to digest lignin, and wood material in general. The tough molecular layers of lignin surround the cellulose elementary fibrils in the wood particles, and the lignin must be digested initially to allow access by other enzymes into the cellulose for digestion.<ref>{{cite book|author=Goodell, B.|author2= Nielsen, G. |year=2023|chapter=Wood Biodeterioration|editor=Niemz, P.|editor2= Teischinger, A.|editor3= Sandberg, D. |title=Springer Handbook of Wood Science and Technology|series=Springer Handbooks|pages= 139–177 |publisher=Springer, Cham. |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-81315-4_4|isbn= 978-3-030-81314-7 }}</ref> Another bacterial species (''[[Teredinibacter turnerae]]''), in the gills secrete a variety of cellulose-digesting enzymes which may be secreted into the shipworm gut via a special organ called the gland of Deshayes. These secretions aid the shipworm's own carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) in digesting the wood particles in combination with the enzymes and potentially other metabolites secreted by the symbiont bacterial in the typhlosole.<ref name="Goodell2024TyphSymbIBB"/><ref name="Distel">{{cite journal |last1=Distel |first1=D. L. |last2=Morrill |first2=W. |last3=MacLaren-Toussaint |first3=N. |last4=Franks |first4=D. |last5=Waterbury |first5=J. |year=2002 |title=''Teredinibacter turnerae'' gen. nov., sp. nov., a dinitrogen-fixing, cellulolytic, endosymbiotic gamma-proteobacterium isolated from the gills of wood-boring molluscs (Bivalvia: Teredinidae) |url=http://ijs.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/52/6/2261 |journal=International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=2261–2269 |doi=10.1099/00207713-52-6-2261 |pmid=12508896 |issn=1466-5026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907142514/http://ijs.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/52/6/2261 |archive-date=2008-09-07 |access-date=2010-09-23 |hdl-access=free |hdl=1912/110}}</ref>

The excavated burrow is usually lined with a [[calcareous]] tube. The valves of the [[Exoskeleton|shell]] of [[shipworms]] are small separate parts located at the anterior end of the worm, used for excavating the burrow. The protective role of the shells is lost because the animal spends all its life surrounded by wood.<ref name="Nobanis" />

''[[Teredo navalis]]'' develops from eggs to [[metamorphosing]] [[larvae]] in about five weeks. They spend half of this time in the mother's gill chamber before being discharged as free-swimming larvae into the sea. Their sexes alternate, young are [[hermaphrodites]] while adults can be either male or female. Typically, organisms are male at first and female subsequently. A second male to female phase may occur, however shipworms rarely live long enough to complete the second phase. They have a lifespan of 1 to 3 years.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Teredo navalis'' |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Teredo_navalis/#D8BFE597-9172-4025-8269-617B480D59B7 |website=Marine Invasions Research at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref>

== Anatomy ==
[[File:Taret Anatomie.JPG|thumb|300px|Disposition of the main organs in a shipworm. GDA: anterior digestive gland; GDV: ventral digestive gland, with its orifices in the stomach. Orifices uri. et gen., urinary and genital orifices. The left ventricle is sectioned near its base. The nerve ganglion is in blue. The distance between pallets and foot spans several time the animal's diameter.]]

Shipworm anatomy reveals the typical organs of a bivalve mollusk, although with dimensional or positional peculiarities due to the thinness and length of the occupied space. Furthermore, some structures find no equivalent in other bivalve groups.

* Gills are divided in two halves, the anterior one of small size, the posterior one much more developed. They are linked by the alimentary tract running on the side of the visceral mass.
* The heart-kidney system is tilted, bringing the kidneys in a dorsal position relative to the heart, whose atria find themselves behind the ventricle. Furthermore, the anterior and posterior aorta become respectively posterior and anterior.
* The anus opens at the end of a long anal tube.
* The digestive gland is divided into several parts, with separate orifices in the stomach.
* A vast [[caecum]] is linked to the stomach.
* The digestive tube bears a very peculiar structure, the gland of Deshayes, probably homologous to salivary glands,<ref name="Morton">{{cite journal |last=Morton |first=B. |year=1978 |title=Feeding and digestion in shipworms |journal=Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review |issue=16 |pages=107–144}}</ref> which link to the oesophagus and stretch to the dorsal side of the posterior part of the gills.
* The orifice of the gallery bears pallets with their own musculature.
* The siphon retractor muscles are inserted on the calcareous covering of the gallery, and not on the shell's valves which are much further out.
* The anterior and posterior anterior muscles have an antagonistic action.
Normally, the shipworm's body fills the entire length of the gallery, but the anterior region can retract itself slightly with respect to the latter's extremity. Without the gills, the viscera only cover one-fourth of the total length and only their anterior part is partially covered by the shell.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sigerfoos |first=C. P. |year=1907 |title=Natural history, organization, and late development of the Teredindæ, or ship-worms |journal=Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries |id=Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 639 |volume=27 |pages=191–231}}</ref><ref name="Turner">{{cite book |last=Turner |first=Ruth |url=https://archive.org/details/surveyillustrate00turn/page/n7/mode/1up |title=A survey and illustrated catalogue of the Teredinae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) |publisher=The Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University |year=1966 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=8–45 |oclc=767789449}}</ref>

== Taxonomy ==

Shipworms are marine animals in the phylum [[Mollusca]], [[Order (biology)|order]] [[Bivalvia]], [[Family (biology)|family]] '''Teredinidae'''. They were included in the now obsolete order ''Eulamellibranchiata'',<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Ponder |editor1-first=Winston F. |editor2-last=Lindberg |editor2-first=David R. |title=Phylogeny and Evolution of the Mollusca |publisher=University of California Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-520-25092-5 }}</ref> in which many documents still place them.

[[Ruth Turner]] of [[Harvard University]] was the leading 20th century expert on the Teredinidae; she published a detailed monograph on the family, the 1966 volume ''A Survey and Illustrated Catalogue of the Teredinidae'' published by the [[Museum of Comparative Zoology]]. More recently, the [[endosymbiont]]s that are found in the gills have been subject to study the [[bioconversion]] of cellulose for fuel energy research.<ref name=PMID19568419>{{cite journal|last1=Yang|first1=JC|last2=Madupu|first2=R|last3=Durkin|first3=AS|last4=Ekborg|first4=NA|last5=Pedamallu|first5=CS|last6=Hostetler|first6=JB|last7=Radune|first7=D|last8=Toms|first8=BS|last9=Henrissat|first9=B|last10=Coutinho|first10=PM|last11=Schwarz|first11=S|last12=Field|first12=L|last13=Trindade-Silva|first13=AE|last14=Soares|first14=CA|last15=Elshahawi|first15=S|last16=Hanora|first16=A|last17=Schmidt|first17=EW|last18=Haygood|first18=MG|last19=Posfai|first19=J|last20=Benner|first20=J|last21=Madinger|first21=C|last22=Nove|first22=J|last23=Anton|first23=B|last24=Chaudhary|first24=K|last25=Foster|first25=J|last26=Holman|first26=A|last27=Kumar|first27=S|last28=Lessard|first28=PA|last29=Luyten|first29=YA|last30=Slatko|first30=B|last31=Wood|first31=N|last32=Wu|first32=B|last33=Teplitski|first33=M|last34=Mougous|first34=JD|last35=Ward|first35=N|last36=Eisen|first36=JA|last37=Badger|first37=JH|last38=Distel|first38=DL|title=The complete genome of Teredinibacter turnerae T7901: an intracellular endosymbiont of marine wood-boring bivalves (shipworms)|journal=PLOS ONE|date=Jul 1, 2009|volume=4|issue=7|article-number=e6085|pmid=19568419|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0006085|pmc=2699552|bibcode=2009PLoSO...4.6085Y|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Shipworm species comprise several [[genus|genera]], of which ''[[Teredo (bivalve)|Teredo]]'' is the most commonly mentioned. The best known species is ''[[Teredo navalis]]''.  Historically, ''Teredo'' concentrations in the [[Caribbean Sea]] have been substantially higher than in most other salt water bodies.

Genera within the family Teridinidae include:<ref>{{cite WoRMS |last=Bouchet |first=P. |year=2015|title=Teredinidae Rafinesque, 1815|id=253|access-date=2015-02-14}}</ref>

* ''[[Bactronophorus]]'' Tapparone-Canefri, 1877
* ''[[Bankia (bivalve)|Bankia]]'' Gray, 1842
* ''[[Dicyathifer]]'' Iredale, 1932
* ''[[Kuphus]]'' Guettard, 1770
* ''[[Lithoredo]]'' Shipway, Distel & Rosenberg, 2019
* ''[[Lyrodus]]'' Binney, 1870
* ''[[Nausitoria]]'' Wright, 1884
* ''[[Neoteredo]]'' Bartsch, 1920
* ''[[Nototeredo]]'' Bartsch, 1923
* ''[[Psiloteredo]]'' Bartsch, 1922
* ''[[Spathoteredo]]'' Moll, 1928
* ''[[Teredo (bivalve)|Teredo]]'' Linnaeus, 1758
* ''[[Teredora]]'' Bartsch, 1921
* ''[[Teredothyra]]'' Bartsch, 1921
* ''[[Uperotus]]'' Guettard, 1770
* ''[[Zachsia]]'' Bulatoff & Rjabtschikoff, 1933

== Species ==
{{expert needed|Biology|2=section|reason = evident if one reads until reaching the sentence, "The case of the shipworm is not just the home of the black slimy worm.", and see if you do not agree that there is need for something more than an inexpert reevaluation of the current poorly structured, incompletely and poorly sourced (e.g., 2/3 BBC and NYT) ramble of non-scholarly, non-encyclopedic content.|date=April 2025}}
The [[Teredo (bivalve)|Teredo]] [[genus]] has approximately 20 [[species]] that live in wooden materials such as logs, pilings, ship, and practically any other submerged wooden construction from temperate to [[tropical]] [[ocean]] zones. The species is thought to be native to the [[Atlantic Ocean]] and was once known as the Atlantic shipworm, although its exact origin is unknown.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Didžiulis |first1=Viktoras |title=NOBANIS - Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet - ''Teredo navalis'' |url=https://www.nobanis.org/globalassets/speciesinfo/t/teredo-navalis/teredo_navalis.pdf |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref> The longest marine bivalve, ''[[Kuphus polythalamia]]'', was found from a lagoon near [[Mindanao]] island in the southeastern part of the [[Philippines]], which belongs to the same group of mussels and clams. The existence of huge mollusks was established for centuries and studied by the scientists, based on the shells they left behind that were the size of [[baseball bat]]s (length {{convert|1.5|m|ftin|abbr=on|disp=or}}, diameter {{cvt|6|cm|in|frac=2|disp=or}}).<ref>{{cite news | title = This Is a Giant Shipworm. You May Wish It Had Stayed In Its Tube. - T… | website = [[The New York Times]] | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/science/giant-shipworm.html | date = 2020-11-15 | archive-url  = https://archive.today/20201115004201/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/science/giant-shipworm.html | archive-date = 2020-11-15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Live, long and black giant shipworm found in Philippines|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39626131|publisher=[[BBC|British Broadcasting Company]] |date=18 April 2017}}</ref> The [[bivalve]] is a rare creature that spends its life inside an [[elephant tusk]]-like hard shell made of [[calcium carbonate]]. It has a protective cap over its head which it reabsorbs to burrow into the mud for food. The case of the shipworm is not just the home of the black slimy worm. Instead, it acts as the primary source of nourishment in a non-traditional way. ''K. polythalamia'' sifts mud and sediment with its gills. Most shipworms are relatively smaller and feed on rotten wood. This shipworm instead relies on a beneficial [[symbiotic bacteria]] living in its gills. The bacteria use the [[hydrogen sulfide]] for energy to produce [[organic compound]]s  that in turn feed the shipworms, similar to the process of [[photosynthesis]] used by [[green plants]] to convert the [[carbon dioxide]] in the air into simple [[carbon compounds]]. Scientists found that ''K. polythalamia'' cooperates with different bacteria than other shipworms, which could be the reason why it evolved from consuming rotten wood to living on hydrogen sulfide in the mud. The internal organs of the shipworm have shrunk from lack of use over the course of its evolution.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} The scientists are planning to study the microbes found in the single gill of ''K. polythalamia'' to find a new possible antimicrobial substance.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

== Habitat ==

''[[Teredo navalis]]'' are a cosmopolitan species that can be found both in the [[Atlantic]] and [[Pacific]] oceans.<ref name="Nobanis">{{cite web |last1=Didžiulis |first1=Viktoras |website=Nobanis |title=Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet – ''Teredo navalis'' |url=https://www.nobanis.org/globalassets/speciesinfo/t/teredo-navalis/teredo_navalis.pdf |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref> Since they occupy wooden [[Flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict|flotsam]] and natural [[driftwood]] such as dead tree trunks, they are spread as the wood is carried by currents. They also travel inside the wooden-hulled vessels that help increase their spread worldwide.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Castagna |first1=Michael |title=Shipworms and Other Marine Borers |url=https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy-pdfs/leaflet505.pdf |website=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |publisher=United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Bureau of Commercial Fisheries |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref> However, the origin of ''T. navalis'' remains uncertain due to the widespread usage of [[ships]] in [[Maritime trade|global trade]] and the resulting spreading of shipworms.<ref name="Teredo navalis">{{cite web |last1=Ho |first1=Maggie |title=''Teredo navalis'' |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Teredo_navalis/#D8BFE597-9172-4025-8269-617B480D59B7 |website=Marine Invasions Research at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref>

During the free-living [[larva]] stage, the species colonizes new habitats and spreads. Larvae are extremely sensitive to the presence of wood and will take advantage of any opportunity to attach to and penetrate wooden structures. In the [[Baltic Sea]], free-floating piles carved by shipworms can be observed floating hundreds of kilometers away from the original wooden structures. The limiting element for propagation is [[salinity]], which must be greater than 8% for successful reproduction. Consequently, [[freshwater]] is deadly to these [[invertebrates]].<ref name="Nobanis" /> Reproduction occurs during warm [[summer]] months, and the larvae [[Sexual maturity|mature for production]] in just eight weeks. Each year, several [[Biological life cycle|generations]] can be produced. Their ideal temperature range is {{cvt|15|to|25|C|F|round=5}} and therefore ''T. navalis'' can be found in temperate and tropical zones.<ref name="Teredo navalis"/>

The shipworm lives in waters with [[oceanic salinity]]. Accordingly, it is rare in the [[brackish]] Baltic Sea, where wooden [[shipwreck]]s are preserved for much longer than in the oceans.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://sciencenordic.com/historic-shipwrecks-could-be-preserved-antarctic|title=Historic shipwrecks could be preserved in the Antarctic|work=ScienceNordic|access-date=2017-02-28|language=en|archive-date=2017-02-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228084157/http://sciencenordic.com/historic-shipwrecks-could-be-preserved-antarctic}}</ref>

The range of various species has changed over time based on human activity. Many waters in developed countries that had been plagued by shipworms were cleared of them by [[Water pollution|pollution]] from the [[Industrial Revolution]] and the modern era; as environmental regulation led to cleaner waters, shipworms have returned.<ref name=Smithsonian2016/>  [[Climate change]] has also changed the range of species; some once found only in warmer and more salty waters like the [[Caribbean]] have established habitats in the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]].<ref name=Smithsonian2016/>

== Cultural impact ==

Shipworms greatly damage wooden hulls and marine [[piling]], and have been the subject of much study to find methods to avoid their attacks.<ref name=Smithsonian2016>{{cite news|last1=Gilman|first1=Sarah|title=How a Ship-Sinking Clam Conquered the Ocean|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/tunneling-clam-bedeviled-humans-sank-ships-conquered-oceans-180961288/|work=Smithsonian|date=December 5, 2016|language=en}}</ref> [[Copper sheathing]] was used on wooden ships in the latter 18th century and afterwards, as a method of preventing damage by teredo worms. The first historically documented use of copper sheathing was experiments held by the British Royal Navy with {{HMS|Alarm|1758|6}}, which was coppered in 1761 and thoroughly inspected after a two-year cruise. In a letter from the Navy Board to the Admiralty dated 31 August 1763 it was written "that so long as copper plates can be kept upon the bottom, the planks will be thereby entirely secured from the effects of the worm."

In the [[Netherlands]] the shipworm caused a crisis in the 18th century by attacking the timber that faced the [[sea dike]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}} After that the dikes had to be faced with stones. In 2009, ''Teredo'' caused several minor collapses along the [[Hudson River]] waterfront in [[Hoboken, New Jersey]], due to damage to underwater pilings.<ref>{{cite news | title = Pier-eating monsters: Termites of the sea causing piers to collapse | newspaper = Hudson Reporter | url = https://archive.hudsonreporter.com/2009/09/27/pier-eating-monsters/ | access-date = 2009-09-29}}</ref>

[[Image:Teredolites.jpg|thumb|''[[Teredolites]]'' [[bioerosion|boring]]s in a modern wharf piling. The US one cent coin in the lower left of this image is 19 mm across.]]

In the early 19th century, [[engineer]] [[Marc Isambard Brunel|Marc Brunel]] observed that the shipworm's valves simultaneously enabled it to tunnel through wood and protected it from being crushed by the swelling timber. With that idea, he designed the first [[tunnelling shield]], a modular iron tunnelling framework which enabled workers to tunnel through the unstable riverbed beneath the Thames. The [[Thames Tunnel]] was the first successful large tunnel built under a navigable river.<ref name=Smithsonian2016/><ref>{{cite web | title = Thames Tunnel Construction | publisher = Brunel Museum | url = http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk/tunnel_construction.aspx | access-date = 2008-08-31 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080614215843/http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk/tunnel_construction.aspx <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2008-06-14}}</ref>

[[Henry David Thoreau]]'s poem "Though All the Fates" pays homage to "New England's worm" which, in the poem, infests the hull of "[t]he vessel, though her masts be firm". In time, no matter what the ship carries or where she sails, the shipworm "her hulk shall bore, / [a]nd sink her in the Indian seas".<ref>{{cite web|author=Thoreau, Henry D.|url=http://www.poetry-archive.com/t/though_all_the_fates.html |title=Though All the Fates|website=poetry-archive.com}}</ref> The hull of the ship wrecked by a whale, inspiring ''[[Moby Dick]],'' had been weakened by shipworms.<ref name=Smithsonian2016/> In the Norse [[Saga of Erik the Red]], Bjarni Grimolfsson, an Icelander,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en|title=The Saga of Erik the Red |work=Icelandic Saga Database|access-date=2017-07-04|language=en}}</ref> had his ship drift into the Irish Sea where it was eaten up by shipworms. He allowed half the crew to escape in a smaller boat covered in seal tar, while he stayed behind to drown with his men.

== Culinary Use==
[[file:Local speciality tamiloc (9163532353).jpg|thumb|left|Shipworm as ''tamilok'']]

In [[Palawan]] and [[Aklan]] in the [[Philippines]], the shipworm is called {{lang|ceb|tamilok}} and is eaten as a delicacy. It is prepared as [[kinilaw]]—that is, raw (cleaned) but [[marinade|marinated]] with vinegar or [[lime juice]], chopped [[chili pepper]]s and onions, a process very similar to shrimp [[ceviche]]. Similarly, ''T. navalis'' can be found inside the dead and rotten trunk of [[mangroves]] in [[West Papua, Indonesia]]. To the locals, the [[Kamoro language|Kamoro]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.papuaerfgoed.org/en/theme/renaissance-kamoro-culture|title=Renaissance of Kamoro Culture {{!}} Stichting Papua Erfgoed|website=www.papuaerfgoed.org}}</ref> tribe, it is referred to as {{lang|ceb|tambelo}} and is considered as a delicacy in daily meals. It can be eaten fresh and raw (cleaned) or cooked (cleaned and boiled) as well and usually marinated with lime juice and chili peppers. Since ''T. navalis'' are related to [[clams]], [[mussels]], and [[oysters]],<ref name="newatlas.com">{{cite web |last1=Coxworth |first1=Ben |title=Wood-eating shipworms may soon be farmed for shipworm-eating humans |url=https://newatlas.com/good-thinking/shipworms-naked-clams-farming/ |website=New Atlas |date=20 November 2023 |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref> the taste of the flesh has been compared to a wide variety of foods, from [[milk]] to [[oysters]].<ref>{{ cite web | title = Tamilok A Palawan: Delicacy | first = Jodelen O. |last=Ortiz | date = May 2, 2007 | url = http://www.tsibog.com/special-features/tamilok-a-palawan-delicacy-2007-05-02.php | access-date = 2009-04-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090417223620/http://www.tsibog.com/special-features/tamilok-a-palawan-delicacy-2007-05-02.php | archive-date = April 17, 2009 }}</ref> Similarly, the delicacy is harvested, sold, and eaten from those taken by local natives in the mangrove forests of [[West Papua (province)|West Papua]] and some part of [[Borneo Island]], [[Indonesia]], and the central coastal peninsular regions of Thailand near [[Ko Phra Thong]].

In [[Brazil]], particularly in the states of [[Pará]] and [[Maranhão]], species from the genus [[Teredo (bivalve)|Teredo]] and [[Neoteredo]] are considered a [[delicacy]]. Considered an [[aphrodisiac]], it is mostly eaten raw or in stews.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-22 |title=Turú: conheça o molusco afrodisíaco da Amazônia - Portal Amazônia |url=https://portalamazonia.com/gastronomia/turu-conheca-o-molusco-afrodisiaco-da-amazonia/ |access-date=2025-10-23 |language=pt-BR}}</ref>

''T. navalis'' grow faster than any other bivalve because it does not require much energy to create its small shell. They can grow to be about {{cvt|30|cm|in|0}} long in just six months. [[Mussels]] and [[oysters]], on the other hand, with their much bigger shells, can take up to two years to reach harvestable [[size]].<ref name="newatlas.com"/>

== See also ==

* [[Gribble]]
* [[Bug shoe]]
* [[Worm shoe]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal|author=Borges, L. M. S.|display-authors=et al|year=2014 |title=Diversity, environmental requirements, and biogeography of bivalve wood-borers (Teredinidae) in European coastal waters |journal=Frontiers in Zoology|volume=11|issue=13|page=13 |doi=10.1186/1742-9994-11-13 |doi-access=free |pmid=24520913 |pmc=3925441 }}
* {{cite book|author=Powell A. W. B.|author-link=Arthur William Baden Powell|title=New Zealand Mollusca|publisher=[[HarperCollins|William Collins Publishers Ltd]]|location=Auckland, New Zealand|year=1979 |isbn=0-00-216906-1}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary}}

*{{Wikisource-inline|list=
**{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Ship-worm|year=1905|short=x|noicon=x}}
**{{Cite PSM|last=Baumhauer|first=Eduard Hendrik von|wstitle=The Teredo and its Depredations II|volume=13|month-and-year=September 1878|noicon=x}}
**{{Cite PSM|last=Baumhauer|first=Eduard Hendrik von|wstitle=The Teredo and its Depredations I|volume=13|month-and-year=August 1878|noicon=x}}
**{{Cite PSM|wstitle=The Borers of the Sea|volume=3|month-and-year=May 1873|noicon=x}}
}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q14524890}}

[[Category:Bivalve families]]
[[Category:Herbivorous animals]]
[[Category:Nautical terminology]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]]
[[Category:Teredinidae| ]]
[[Category:Wood decomposition]]