Osedax frankpressi is a species of bathypelagic polychaete worm that lives on the seabed. It is found on the carcase of a gray whale in Monterey Canyon, off the coast of California, at a depth of 2,891 m. And it is a small worm that speedily colonises the skeleton, sending out root-like threads that force their way into the bone marrow and absorb the nutrients.[5] Inside these root structures are bacteria in the order Oceanospirillales with which the worm is in symbiosis. It is probable that the presence of these bacteria, with their ability to metabolise organic material, enables the worms to live on carcases.
