# Unknown Lifeform in North Carolina Sewer! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 1, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604 "2009-07-01T18:33:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/1 "2009-07-01T18:33:47Z")
[What on Earth is that thing?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcKpx2DxGwY&feature=topvideos) ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/2 "2009-07-01T18:38:46Z")
It looks like a living ball of feces. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/3 "2009-07-01T18:50:51Z")
According to one of the posters I guess it’s related to the Tubifex worm, but I’d love a confirmation from someone other than a YouTard. ---
**Author:** ![shorin-ryu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shorin-ryu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shorin-ryu)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/4 "2009-07-01T19:03:34Z")
A local story: [http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1591089.html](http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1591089.html) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/5 "2009-07-01T21:42:04Z")
Bryozoans are known as “moss animals” – obviously a euphemism. I actually blame the News & Observer and WRAL – their investigative reporting isa always opening up a can of worms. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/6 "2009-07-01T21:45:31Z")
Are you sure it’s not the South Carolina governor hiding out until the fuss blows over? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/7 "2009-07-01T21:55:35Z")
Pause the video at 57 seconds. There, in the upper-right of the frame, is that the face of Dwight Eisenhower? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/8 "2009-07-01T22:11:03Z")
Whatever it was, it was fucking gross! ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/9 "2009-07-01T22:21:56Z")
If I ever saw that and did not know exactly what it was, it would scare the crap out of me. Heck, it scares the crap out of me anyway. ewwwwwwww! ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/10 "2009-07-01T22:24:25Z")
> [@Auntbeast](#): > > If I ever saw that and did not know exactly what it was, it would scare the crap out of me. Ya know, if this happened literally, while near it, it might actually get bigger! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/11 "2009-07-01T22:27:16Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > According to one of the posters I guess it’s related to the Tubifex worm, but I’d love a confirmation from someone other than a YouTard. This is very untrue. Or, rather, it’s true for a sufficiently liberal interpretation of “related to”. _Tubifex_ is in the same “superphylum” as the bryozoans (Lophotrochozoa), but that only makes them distantly related, at best, since phyla make up the second most general grouping in classical taxonomy. It would be like saying that, because humans are in grouping Tetrapoda, we are related to frogs. Technically true, but meh. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/12 "2009-07-01T22:27:27Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Pause the video at 57 seconds. There, in the upper-right of the frame, is that the face of Dwight Eisenhower? Yes. Yes, it is. Thanks for pointing that out!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![EpicNonsense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@EpicNonsense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpicNonsense)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/13 "2009-07-01T23:10:23Z")
How big are these things? ---
**Author:** ![straggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@straggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straggler)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/14 "2009-07-02T00:27:39Z")
I’d love for someone to cite a news source, that quotes some experts, definitively stating whether this is a known lifeform or not. ---
**Author:** ![straggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@straggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straggler)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/15 "2009-07-02T00:29:48Z")
Hmm.. from [here](http://www.thedenverchannel.com/irresistible/19918447/detail.html): > [@](#): > > “They’re a colony of tubifex worms,” said Senior Project Engineer Mark Senior. “We’ve seen them before in sewer systems.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/16 "2009-07-02T00:42:22Z")
> [@](#): > > “They’re a colony of tubifex worms,” said Senior Project Engineer Mark Senior. “We’ve seen them before in sewer systems.” No wonder William T. Innes says in _Exotic Aquarium Fishes_ to wash them if you collect them in the wild for fish food. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/17 "2009-07-02T00:43:19Z")
Eraserhead ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/18 "2009-07-02T01:06:55Z")
It looks like it’s covered in maggots! GAAAAHHHHH! _Runs screaming from the thread_ ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/19 "2009-07-02T03:18:02Z")
[Vasquez] [Let’s ROCK!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49OZ0M_0fhg) [/Vasquez] ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604/20 "2009-07-02T04:47:57Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Pause the video at 57 seconds. There, in the upper-right of the frame, is that the face of Dwight Eisenhower? Totally looked like it. Hell, this gross thing has a presidential stamp! Creepy feces-moss-creature endorsed by Ike! Get yours today! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unknown-lifeform-in-north-carolina-sewer/501604.md?page=2)