shipworm

shipworm

English

Shipworm Teredo sp.

Etymology

ship +‎ worm

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪpwɜː(ɹ)m/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

shipworm (plural shipworms)

1. Any of several wormlike marine mollusks (not true worms) of the family Teredinidae, that bore through the wooden hulls of ships and other woody material immersed in salt water.
   • 1955, Rachel Carson, The Edge of the Sea,

     Old spars and water-soaked timbers cast on the beach are full of the workings of the shipworm—long cylindrical tunnels penetrating all parts of the wood.

   • 2002, Erkki Leppäkoski, Stephan Gollasch, Sergej Olenin, Invasive Aquatic Species of Europe: Distribution, Impacts, and Management,

     Even though mankind has tried to develop counter measures for thousands of years, still there is no easy solution to the shipworm problem in sight.

   • 2004, Donald Launer, A Cruising Guide to New Jersey Waters:

     In our waters, however, the shipworm seldom attains a length of over a foot-and-a-half long.

   • 2020 August 12, Andrew Mourant, “The tide is turning for a Victorian wonder”, in Rail, page 51:

     In 1980, divers discovered that Teredo navalis, a shipworm, had infested the timber support. Such was the damage, it left the viaduct at risk of being closed permanently - and with it, the entire line.

Hyponyms

• (molluscs in Teredinidae): Kuphus polythalamia (giant tube worm)

Coordinate terms

• bookworm
• termite of the sea
• woodworm

 

Translations

Marine mollusc that bores through wood

Dutch: paalworm (nl) m French: taret (fr) m Galician: broca f German: Schiffsbohrmuschel f, Schiffsbohrwurm m Hebrew: תּוֹלַעַת אֳנִיוֹת‎ (he) f (tola'at oniyot) Italian: teredine f Japanese: 船食虫 (funakuimushi) Maori: korotupa, korotipa Navajo: tsinaaʼeeł biyaʼ Portuguese: gusano m Russian: корабе́льный червь m (korabélʹnyj červʹ) Spanish: broma (es) f Swedish: skeppsmask (sv) c

Further reading

• Shipworms on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Teredinidae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Teredinidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• “shipworm”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.