Sand worm

The Vulcan sand worm was a very large animal lifeform native to the planet Vulcan. One of them, seen living in the Kendha-Ya out-region, or Dead Ocean, was five feet wide and at least 25 feet long. The animal had large eyes, fleshy-looking mandibles, a mouth with no visible teeth, two long antenna-like or tentacle-like projections above its eyes, and a tough segmented body. It borrowed underground but did eat prey on the surface.

Captain Spock traveled to the Kendha-Ya region in 2279 to retrieve a Shin-Ka-Ti plant, also known as the Flower of Mercy. Nectar from that flower had provided a cure to Vulcan’s Red Plague two centuries earlier. While using a hand phaser to disrupt the soil and carefully remove one of these plants by the roots, a sand worm emerged out of the ground only feet away from him. With no other recourse, Spock fired into one of its eyes, and the beast collapsed dead on him. Spock had to fire a hole through the beast’s belly in order to climb out. 


 * [[Image:LA18-Sand-worm-head.jpg |thumb|left|Sand worm’s head]] The animal was not given a name in the story. When Spock stood up through the dead animal, it came up to his shoulders, about five feet. About five times that length was visible above the ground, but more of the animal’s body remained underground.