Pulsating alien sewer creature is worm colony
Pulsating blobs filmed in a North Carolina sewer which promted claims they were an 'alien' lifeform are found to be worms. Published: 6:52PM BST 02 Jul 2009
The slimy sacs were filmed clinging to the crevices of a sewer and shying away from the light as a was camera passed along the pipes by construction firm Malphrus Construction.
Footage of the creatures was posted on YouTube leading to speculation that a new alien creature was living in the sewers of Raleigh, North Carolina.
But now biolgists have confirmed the blobs are a colonies of worms coiled together which much longer on camera than they are in real life.
"We were asked by our client to inspect the sewer lines, which were built in 1949," a spokeswoman from Malphrus Construction said.
'Because the sewers are so old there were many infrastructure issues."
The sewer system is private, but it discharges into the public water system.
Ed Buchan, environmental coordinator at the Raleigh Public Utilities Department, confirmed the 'creature' was actually a colony of worms.
The colonies attach themselves to roots that gradually work themselves into weak points in the pipes.
'"They seem to respond to the light from the camera,' he told The Daily Mail. 'That light is pretty hot.'
Other experts claim they are clumps of annelid worms, which normally live in soil and sediment at the bottom and edges of polluted streams.
