Neurotoxic worms growing up to 3ft long are in Ontario, Canada | Hacker News Reader

Neurotoxic worms growing up to 3ft long are in Ontario, Canada

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57 pointsamichail18 comments

The neurotoxin found in hammerhead worms, Tetrodotoxin, has shown efficacy for the treatment of cancer-related pain in phase II and III clinical trials.

ref: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10221257/

Tetrodotoxin in Zombie Powder may be responsible for persistent reports of zombies in Haiti.

https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2017/10/are-zombies-real

TIL there are land planaria, what a pain that must be: “kill them with salt, vinegar, or neem oil, then dispose of them in a sealed container…avoiding any method that involves cutting the worms, as these segmented creatures can regenerate into two separate worms if split in two.”

Wonder if No Planaria for aquariums work on them. It has areca nut (mild and acceptable drug in Asia) extract to disrupt processes in planaria, hydra and snails and paralyse them till death.

That's an interesting piece of information! We have a huge snail and hammerhead worm infestation here. We also have lots of areca nuts (though people have stopped consuming it). But I haven't heard of anyone using it for this purpose. I wonder if its extract from boiling or grinding works.

Apparently the amount of TTX in a hammerhead worm is so low that they're not considered dangerous. You'd have to eat a lot of them. I know it's tempting!

That sounds even worse. These invasive species always present a danger to the native fauna that don't know to avoid them. If they get gradually poisoned instead, they might never develop the avoidance behavior and may lead to biomagnification of the toxin.

PS: This is just a speculation. Any clarification from an expert is appreciated.

I don't think you should, like, cultivate them and spread them across the land.

I'm at a loss at to how you reached that conclusion from my reply.

Doesn’t sound like it is a sustainable approach to the problem.

But I generally believe that as DNA modification methods become more accessible, more and more people and states will use insects and arthropods resistant to everything for ecological sabotage.

Pandora's box has already been opened.

How did these hammerhead worms arrive in Ontario? As for earthworms, are they native to Ontario? I thought I had read that earthworms are not native to the glaciated parts of North America.

Usually hitching a ride in cheap decorative houseplants that then go to the compost heap.

I remember in junior high, we kept a pack of much smaller and cuter planarians [1] for a science class. We cut them up into pieces (sorry worms!) and they really do regenerate! Fascinating creatures.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugesia_japonica

read that article, and then scroll down for the giant feral herpes carrying goldfish

There are species of herpes big enough to carry goldfish? :-o What do they do with the fish?

Just carry them around because it’s stylish to do so in the giant virus culture.

Obviously those sneaky Canadians playing mind-games to dissuade their aggressive southerly neighbours, might just work too ...

I suppose they’ve been watching the Australian “everything here will kill you” meme and taking notes. Moose, geese, land planaria, Albertans…

A little farther North and you’ll find hungry polar bears.

Cute in a Coca-Cola commercial though. Do try to pat one if you’re here.

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