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The 'peanut worm' is amusing the internet, and no prizes for guessing why

I'm 12 and what is this
 By 
Johnny Lieu
 on 

How unsurprising: Everyone on the internet is immature.

A group of Australian researchers from Museum Victoria and the CSIRO -- the nation's scientific research agency -- have just completed a month-long journey along the eastern coast of the country, keeping a record of what oddities lurk deep beneath the oceans.

Along the way they've found this nightmare-inducing faceless fish, but they also happened upon this "peanut worm," and there's no prizes for guessing what it happens to look like.

*Cue slide whistle sound effect*

Twitter knew what was up.

It's not a brand-new discovery. The peanut worm -- or sipuncula -- has been named that way because its resemblance to shelled peanuts, according to University of California's Museum of Paleontology. It appears this particular one bears quite the resemblance to a penis.

The sipuncula consists of a group of 320 marine species that are found in mostly shallow waters, with some burrowing into sand or mud, or found in the crevasses between rocks.

They can reproduce both sexually and asexually, and when threatened they can contract their long head inwards. Kinda like a...yeah, you know.

Topics Animals

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Johnny Lieu

Mashable Australia's Web Culture Reporter.Reach out to me on Twitter at @Johnny_Lieu or via email at jlieu [at] mashable.com

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