It happens on just one night a year, in November. Armed with torches and homemade nets, these islanders prepare for a harvest. They gather in the reef shallows, watching and waiting for what will soon be a flurry of activity. As the moon rises, it triggers a natural phenomenon and a very strange spectacle - the rising of worms - palolo worms. These are actually the worms' rear ends - their reproductive segments. The part with the head remains in the coral rock. When they reach the surface, eggs and sperm will mix. The tide washes the wriggling worms into the shallows where they are scooped up by the bucketful. The whole event lasts just a couple of hours, but in that time, hundreds of kilos can be gathered.


它只发生在一年中11月某个晚上，带着手电筒和自制鱼网，（西萨摩亚岛）这些岛民准备收获。他们聚在暗礁浅滩，观察并等待不久将至的活动骤至。当月亮升起时，引发了一个自然而非常奇异的现象——蠕虫升起来了（矶沙蚕）。实际上这是沙蚕的后半部分，也就是它们的生殖部分。它们的头部仍留在礁石上，当到达海面时卵子和精子混合，潮汐将蠕动的蚕推到浅滩中，那里它们能被收集到满满一桶。整个事件只有二个小时的时间，但就在那段时间里能收集数百公斤。