The Slickribbon is a large bristle worm that lives in the underground watery caverns of the Central Desert, in 200 million AD, in The Future is Wild. It is in the family Megafaucidae.
It is one such predator that uses the subterranean reservoirs of the Central Desert as hunting grounds. It is about 3.25 feet (1 meter) long and swims by means of paddles, one pair to each segment, beating in a wavelike action almost like an aquatic millipede. The slickribbon's mouth parts are mounted on an extendible trunk, which it can shoot out in a fraction of a second. Gloomworms that come too close to the surface of the water are its staple food source.
Garden worms are also hunted by the slickribbon when they retire to the caverns at night. They are more nutritious than gloomworms but more difficult to catch, dodging the hunters with their agile swimming action. The garden worm can also defend itself against a slickribbon by releasing a disgusting cloud of liquid in the path of the predator.
|