Strange mating rituals in marine worms

Imagine the dating game if you couldn't get out of your house. Some non-swimming marine worms respond by breaking off their tails and sending them out to mingle and mate--after growing a second rudimentary head to guide the process

It's called epitoky, and it's even more interesting than a pharyngula.

Breaking off a tail filled with sperm or eggs is so strange that biologists used to think these mating forms were separate species.

And if that's not odd enough, the epitokes are a delicacy consumed by people...they're the worm caviar of the Pacific.

There are ocean creatures stranger than anything we landlubbers could imagine.

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