A new species of mudworm, known to clean the soil in fishponds, was recently identified and named after Iloilo, the province where its eggs were collected and hatched. Now called Marphysa iloiloensis, eggs of this mudworm, locally referred to as ulod-ulod, were collected by Mary Anne Mandario, an Ilongga and an associate researcher of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC). Mandario said she collected the eggs, encapsulated in “jelly cocoons,” from SEAFDEC’s fishponds in Dumangas and transported them to SEAFDEC’s Polychaete Hatchery in Tigbauan where they were hatched and grown to adult size.

Ledesma, R. H. (2020, January 27). New species of soil-cleaning worm named after Iloilo. Daily Guardian, pp. 10, 13.