- [Coyote] Wow, there it is!
What?
- [Camera Man] I totally got that.
- [Coyote] Isn't that crazy looking?
- [Camera Man] That's so gnarly.
- [Coyote] Woo, it did not bite me,
but boy did it make me jump.
- [Interviewer] Does the worm feel any different
when it does that?
- [Coyote] Yeah, I can feel it's body, like tense up.
Wow there it is!
- [Camera Man] Ew.
- [Interviewer] What's it doing?
- [Coyote] It's puking all over me.
Agh,
agh gross.
- [Camera Man] Uhg it stinks.
- [Coyote] Uh, yeah it does oh man, gross!
(tense music)
In most areas around the world,
when the ocean tides recede they reveal a hidden
coastline that is made up of shallow intertidal pools.
Many of which are filled with colorful plants
and bizarre looking marine creatures.
However, when the tide pools back
from the inlets and estuaries around Harpswell Maine
you're often left with an endless expanse of mud flats.
These exposed layers are formed
when mud is deposited by the tide.
And while they may look like a barren waste land,
they usually support a large population of wildlife.
Today the Great Wilderness Team
will be joined in the field by Anthony,
who is a professional licensed bloodworm digger.
For nearly 40 years he has been raking the mud flats
of Maine, and on a good day
he can haul in around 1,000 worms.
Alright guys, so we have multiple cameras going today
and as you can see it is still raining,
not to bad right now but it's going to be a slightly
gritty episode which is perfect.
Because today we are looking for bloodworms,
it's going to be muddy, it's going to be grimy,
and if we're lucky we're going to find
some of these worms that are then probably
going to end up biting me, isn't that right?
- That's right.
- Okay well we're going to leave the big cameras behind
and what we have here is, check this out.
This is A bloodworm digging rake, and as I understand it,
you kind of slam that into the dirt and mud
- Yep Yep. - pull it back.
- Well yep, pull it back flip it over, just...
They say it's all in the wrist.
- All in the wrist, okay.
Now you're coming right, you're not just
going to stand underneath the edge of the car?
- Uhh, I mean I could stay back here.
- [Coyote] No, no, no, no I can see that you've got your
water shoes on. - Yeah.
- [Coyote] We're all getting muddy today.
- We're all getting in it.
- [Coyote] Alright, you guys ready?
- Lets do it. - Alright, hit it.
- [Coyote] Alright, let's go.
Digging in mud flats is truly a dirty job,
and believe it or not, bloodworming
is a huge part of Maine's fishing economy
as these marine worms are sold as bait.
So whether you are catching the prized bloodworm
or the slightly bigger sandworm,
a heavy hall can equate to a pretty nice pay check.
However the good news for any and all worms
we catch today, is that they will be released,
back into the wild.
Now it's just a matter of getting into the mud,
so we can start digging.
Well you just let us know where you think
the best spot is to start digging.
- See, no one knows.
- No one knows? - No, one knows.
- This is tough, it's like you're walking on another planet.
It's crazy looking out here,
it's all kind of glassy looking.
And this is every day for you huh?
- Yeah, every day, yup.
- [Coyote] How you doing, Mario?
- I don't know, it's a little intimidating
I feel like I'm going to just sink in.
- [Coyote] This is cool.
I've never walked through anything like this before.
- [Mario] Oh, I fell.
- [Coyote] Oh my gosh, I thought you were
used to this stuff being from the Everglades.
- [Mario] Uh, we don't have this in the Everglades.
- You're going to want to wash your hand.
- [Mario] Yeah, thanks.
- Just wash it in the water right there
just splash it around, there you go.
- [Mario] There you go.
- Feel better?
- [Mario] Alright that's a little better.
- [Anthony] Wipe it right here.
- Nuh uh. - I'm serious
I'm serious, I go through this all the time.
- [Mario] You're good, you're good.
- Okay so guys check this out,
Hey Anthony I see there's some like a bit of a water way,
going through here, what sort of area
are we looking for to start digging.
I mean look at all, look at this!
- [Mario] Is that a worm?
- [Coyote] Ar these worm trails?
- [Anthony] Nope that looks like um.
- Oh this. - Yup.
- [Mario] Is that a snail?
- It's a snail. - That is a snail.
- [Coyote] Yup so not worm trails,
well I think this whole area here
looks like a good place to maybe start.
- Sure!
- Why don't you show me exactly
what the method is for digging.
- Ready?
- Yeah.
Oh wow it just peeled back like that.
There's a worm! - Nope nope.
- [Coyote] Or is that a stick?
Oh, it's heavy.
- [Anthony] See how this rolls?
- Wow it just peels back, it's like cake.
- [Coyote] Oh, oh oh, I thought I saw one.
Oh what's that?
Is that a tape worm?
- [Anthony] That's a tape worm.
- [Coyote] That's a tape worm.
- But they go. - That's how.
- [Mario] Oh my goodness.
- That's not what we're looking for.
- That's a tape worm. - That's a tape worm.
- Don't get that in your stomach.
Alright we're going to toss him back there in mud.
- [Mario] Gross.
- This is like throwing five pound weights.
Every lump of mud is about five pounds.
That's five pounds right there.
And Anthony is just throwing globs of mud, effortlessly.
Let me tell you who you don't want
to get into an arm wrestling competition with,
Anthony.
He's got Popeye forearms, it's crazy.
It's tough because you step and you sink,
you try to move fast enough so that your feet don't sink
See like that?
- [Mario] You alright?
- Winded man, that is tough.
That is a lot tougher than you guys can possibly imagine.
The mud is extremely heavy and as it pulls your legs
down into it, you're trying to balance with your feet,
my toes actually hurt from trying to keep myself webbed
on top of the mud surface, as you sink down,
and there's no where to rest,
it's not like I could just lay down in this mud.
Well I could but then the environment
would swallow me alive.
Woo, I am seating bullets right now.
Okay, lets follow Anthony we can't keep up with him.
I'm going to try right here.
Oh something big!
- [Mario] Get it!
Is that a sandworm?
- Whoa, look at that!
That's a beaster right there.
But I don't know if it's a bloodworm,
I don't see its head coming out.
Hold on, put it in the bucket either way.
- I got a big one. - You got a big one!
- We're on them!
- We found the sweet spot, it's the honey hole.
- That's what I mean.
- [Mario] There you go, let me see.
- Yup that's it. - Wow!
That's crazy. - That's what I dig
every day, worms like that.
- Look at it's proboscis coming out.
- Whoa! - Dude!
- Alien isn't it?
You can see Anthony is excited,
this means this is a good worm right here.
Wow, look at that, woo!
Alright we are getting closer to the Honey hole.
- [Anthony] Yup.
- [Coyote] I'm going to put this beast in the bucket.
- [Mario] Show Anthony what we found.
- Oh that's a sand worm! - That's a sand worm?
That's a sand worm, they bite too.
- [Coyote] Wow.
Okay, well at least we found a big one.
Woo!
- It's so muddy over here.
♪ Bloodworming, on the coast of Maine
Oh there's another one!
- [Mario] Got one?
- Yes!
- [Mario] Oh that's a good one.
- Oh it's a big one!
Got one!
Singing my bloodworm a song, brought him up from the mud.
Woo, a little muddy but it finally paid off,
I have slung probably 150 globs of mud,
and I finally, woah don't drop him,
finally found my first keepable bloodworm.
I'll put it into the bucket.
- [Mario] Nice.
We got it. - Okay.
- Alright - We've got bloodworms,
we have a sandworm, at this point I say
we head back to a controlled situation
and get these worms up close for the cameras.
Woo, this was awesome, aw man I'm stuck to the mud.
- [Mario] Nice.
- Alright guys so we're back at base camp
and what I have here are two buckets.
One that is filled with worms,
and another that just has some salt water.
What I'm going to have to do,
is dig through all this gloppy mud
that's filled with blood worms,
rinse them off and then place them
into this clear container, so that we can actually see them.
See look in there.
Oh there's the big, there's one of my big ones.
Okay.
- [Interviewer] Is this salt water right here?
- Yes it is, this is a marine species of worm,
which means that they live in salt water.
If I were to actually put these worms
in fresh water, it would kill them.
So we do need to be rather gentle with them,
whoa, there's a big one right there.
Oh that is, that's one of the big,
look at this.
That's one of the big ones right there.
- Oh yeah. - Oh boy
yeah that could give you a good bite.
Alright get in there buddy.
Okay, I'm going to move this bucket off of here.
Get rid of the water bucket.
And now we're going to get up close with these worms.
Now we do have, a pretty decent size ragworm here.
Anthony also called these, sand worms, see that?
- Crazy looking. - Right?
Look at the iridescence to it's skin,
and you can see if you zoom in there,
all these little legs on the side,
those are called parapodia,
and that actually helps these marine worms,
not only swim but also burrow.
And this also will get extremely long,
but that's about its most shrunken up state right there.
Alright, I'm going to go ahead an put this one
back into the mud bucket.
Crazy.
- [Mario] Who we got next.
- Man, the moment we've been waiting for,
the bloodworm, which is exactly
what we were going out after today.
I wasn't even aware that we would find
other marine worm species and,
we got a whole container full of them.
Now I'm just going to dump the whole thing in my hand,
- [Mario] Okay.
- [Coyote] Just so we can see what that looks like.
Ugh, now, they really look a lot like earth worms.
- [Interviewer] Do they smell or anything?
- They smell like mud.
They absolutely smell like mud.
And like most worms, they'll kinda just stay completely,
limp in your hand like that, and, oh,
I can feel them moving.
- [Mario] They don't seem to move as fast as the earth worm.
- No, alright I'm going to kinda just single out
the biggest ones.
Now you may be wondering to yourselves,
oh that ones putting out its mouth.
Oh that is a rather big one.
Okay, there are one, two, three, four, five,
really good sized bloodworms, but I think
the biggest are these two right here in the middle.
So we're going to pair this down.
I'm trying to let them get comfortable and expand out.
I also want to see if there's one going to perform
for us, with what we're all waiting to see,
which is that weird alien looking head,
that they shoot out of the front of their face.
- [Mario] I think that one, that one.
- [Coyote] This one right there.
- [Mario] That one seems to be the most lively.
- Yeah that one also seems to be the largest in diameter.
Alright, we're going to put these back.
Now one thing that I must note up front.
I'm not going to intentionally try to be bitten
by this worm, but this is one of the only venomous
worm species in the world.
There, right there, you see that.
You see the head come out?
They have a proboscis that they shoot
out of the front of their head, which has four fangs.
Those fangs are made of copper.
And they're like this right, it's like a grappling hook.
- [Mario] Hold up, hold up, like metal?
- Like metal, like the element copper, and those...
- [Interviewer] So it has metal teeth?
- [Coyote] It has metal teeth.
- [Interviewer] Like a bond villain?
- Like a bond villain, you got it, yes.
This is like one of the most bizarre creatures,
I didn't even know these things existed,
until we go here to Maine and someone said,
you want to go looking for bloodworms?
And sure enough this is that creature.
Now this worm is a predator and when they're out hunting,
they'll kind of slink though the mud,
and they're searching for crustaceans
or small invertebrates.
And they shoot this grappling hook type head
out of their proboscis, four fangs dig in,
and then with those fangs they inject venom,
that venom paralyzes and sometimes
even stops the heart of its victim,
and then they sit there,
(slurping)
and slurp up the innards like a slushie.
Now okay, this is really cool,
see how it's completely slinked out like this
notice that coloration, see how purple that is?
- [Mario] Yeah.
- It's all peach colored here and purple here,
that's why they're called bloodworms
because their insides are actually dark red,
and the skin is semi translucent
and you can see that coloration right through there.
Wow that's cool.
- [Mario] You can see, like, little bubbles
running through the body. - Yeah isn't that wild.
- Look down the side of its body there,
you see how it looks like those spikes coming off?
- It's like hairs. - Yup.
- Those are parapodia, they're like little feet,
that help this creature to burrow
and also to keep its balance if it's in deep water.
Alright we gotta get that proboscis to come out.
Let me see here, I'm going to just,
lay the worm out in my hand here like this.
You can see look, it's kind of curling around,
probably protecting itself.
Can you see that little, nodule up front there.
- [Interviewer] What is that?
- [Coyote] That's a sensory organ, it's a little tentacle,
and that's how this creature explores its environment.
It can sense chemicals in the water
with that little front appendage.
Look at up here, you see all that purpleish coloration?
- [Mario] Oh yeah.
- [Coyote] It has a lateral line
that runs down the length of his body,
see that real distinct purple line?
That's how you can easily identify this as a bloodworm.
Ah, oh!
Oh it went for my thumb did you see that?
- [Mario] Totally got that.
- Woo it did not bite me but boy did it make me jump.
- [Mario] Wow, it shoots out really fast.
- [Coyote] Woah, there it is.
What!
- Isn't that crazy looking. - It's so gnarly.
- [Coyote] I think this ones fangs are just to small,
like it's coming all the way out, I see them,
I mean the fangs are pretty tiny,
so I don't think I'm going to get bitten by this thing.
- [Interviewer] Ugh, what's it doing.
- [Coyote] It's puking all over me.
Agh,
agh gross.
- [Mario] Ugh, it stinks.
- [Coyote] Does it?
- [Mario] Yeah.
- [Coyote] Oh yeah it does, oh man gross!
Oh, disgusting, oh my gosh did you film all that?
- [Mario] I got all of it.
- [Interviewer] Everything poops on you.
- Oh my gosh, even bloodworms poop on me.
Look how long its body is when it's slinked out like that.
And just like an earth worm, if this marine creature
is cut on area above, pretty much this line right here,
it can regrow parts of its body.
Look a that, you can actually see the colors
going through its body, woah!
Just try to bite me there?
- [Mario] I think it was thinking about it.
Show me your proboscis.
- Ow! - [Mario] Oh!
- Yi! - Did it bite you?
- [Coyote] He got me!
(laughing)
- [Mario] I got that.
- He got me, I felt it, it was a little pinch.
- [Mario] Let me see, where'd he get you.
- [Coyote] Right there, right in the crux of my finger.
It was like a little pin prick, ah.
(laughing)
- [Mario] Does it hurt? - Yeah a little but,
a little bit, it kind of itches actually.
Yeah did you see that, you think you got that?
- [Mario] Oh I know I got it.
- Oh man.
It just kind of whipped around and nailed me.
Well okay, I was successfully bitten by the blood worm.
Definitely not as bad as a bee sting,
although, you know, it was significantly bigger
it may have hurt more but ah,
it kind of itches a little bit.
- [Interviewer] Like a little mosquito bite?
- Yeah it kind of, like, it startled me more than anything
but I can definitely feel it.
Haha, my hearts racing.
(laughing)
I even saw you guys jump back.
- [Mario] You're not touching the uh...
- No, no, no, I mean it really didn't hurt,
but it was a prick it definitely shot me backward.
That was funny.
- Hey Coyote? - Yeah?
- [Mario] You alright?
- I'm alright man, yeah.
(laughing)
- Well it was definitely one every wet,
very muddy afternoon, but we finally came across,
a whole bunch of bloodworms.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave,
stay wild, we'll see you on the next adventure.
Ready to put them back out in the ocean?
- [Mario] Let's do it.
- You sure you don't want to get bitten?
- Eh, I'm good - Okay.
(laughing)
- At the start of this episode I honestly had no idea
what to expect, when it came to digging
in the mud for worms.
But here's what I learned.
First, it's incredibly difficult,
not only to walk across the mud flats,
but also to dig in the heavy wet mud.
Second, it's muddy, in case that wasn't completely obvious.
And third, it's actually a lot of fun.
Like looking for a needle in a hay stack,
or in this case a bloodworm in a mud flat.
There we go, that's a pretty good sized one right there.
- Nice.
- I'd say about as big as we've found today.
Alright guys, time to let the bloodworms and the sandworm,
back off into the ocean.
Now you can release these creatures, absolutely anywhere,
they live up and down the coast,
so this isn't exactly where I found them,
but it doesn't matter because
they are constantly on the move, they are nomadic.
Always searching for something new to eat.
Maine's bloodworm industry continues to flourish,
and it's responsible, conservation conscious diggers
like Anthony, who are helping to keep the population
of these bizarre looking animals growing.
By only taking market sized worms,
and returning the females and juveniles to the flats,
his harvesting methods will ensure
a bountiful population for generations to come.
If you thought digging for bloodworms was a muddy mess,
make sure to go back and watch the episode
where I got covered in mud diving to catch
a smokey jungle frog, man, look at all that mud.
And don't forget, subscribe!
So you can join me and the crew in our next big adventure.