uncharismatic-fauna:What, might you ask, is a gribble? Good question! Gribbles are an isopod commonly found in wooden ships and shipwrecks. Unlike other wood-boring invertebrates, they lack any special gut bacteria to help them digest the wood they eat. Instead, they’re fully capable of digesting wood pulp with their own cellulolytic enzymes– these enzymes are currently also being investigated as a potential way to produce biofuel.(Image: A pair of gribble (Limnoria lignorum) feeding on wood by Warren Maguire)
What, might you ask, is a gribble? Good question! Gribbles are an isopod commonly found in wooden ships and shipwrecks. Unlike other wood-boring invertebrates, they lack any special gut bacteria to help them digest the wood they eat. Instead, they’re fully capable of digesting wood pulp with their own cellulolytic enzymes– these enzymes are currently also being investigated as a potential way to produce biofuel.
(Image: A pair of gribble (Limnoria lignorum) feeding on wood by Warren Maguire)