Real-life Cthulhu caught and filmed!

Researchers from the University of British Columbia have found a real-life version of "Cthulhu" and "Cthylla," fictional monsters with octopus-like heads.

 

But no, neither is a giant monster that devours people; instead, they are two symbionts found living in the guts of tiny termites.

 

“When we first saw them under the microscope they had this unique motion, it looked almost like an octopus swimming,” said UBC researcher Erick James, lead author of the paper describing the newly-discovered protists.

 

Because of the octopus-like way the organisms swam, the researchers named them after fictional monsters created by American horror author H. P. Lovecraft.

 

In their paper, the researchers named the single-cell protists, which help termites digest wood, "Cthulhu macrofasciculumque" and "Cthylla microfasciculumque."

 

UBC said the researchers decided to name them after the monstrous cosmic entities in Lovecraft’s "Cthulhu Mythos" because of the "sometimes strange and fascinating world of the microbe."

 

The researchers' paper was published in the online journal PLoS ONE.

 

According to UBC, the octopus-like appearance and movements of the two protists reminded James of the Cthulhu and Cthylla.

 

"Cthulhu is often depicted as a giant, octopus-like entity with wings. Cthylla is his daughter, and has a similar appearance," UBC noted.

 

Small size, big impact

 

Despite their small size —Cthulhu and Cthylla measure only 10 to 20 microns in length, compared to the bigger protists that measure 50 to 150 microns— they have a big impact, not unlike their fictional counterparts.

 

James said the huge diversity of microbial organisms is a "completely untapped resource."

 

“Studying protists can tell us about the evolution of organisms. Some protists cause diseases, but others live in symbiotic relationships, like these flagellates in the intestines of termites,” he said. — TJD, GMA News