Editing Shipworm (section)

{{short description|Family of molluscs}}
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{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Shipworm
| image = Shipworm.jpg
| image_caption = This dried specimen of ''[[Teredo navalis]]'', and the calcareous tunnel that originally surrounded it and curled into a circle during preservation, were extracted from the wood of a ship. The two valves of the shell are the white structures at the anterior end; they are used to dig the tunnel in the wood.
| display_parents = 3
| taxon = Teredinidae
| authority = [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Rafinesque]], 1815
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = See text
}}

The '''shipworms''', also called '''Teredo worms''' or simply '''Teredo''' ({{etymology|grc|''{{Wikt-lang|grc|τερηδών}}'' ({{grc-transl|τερηδών}})|wood-worm}}, via [[Latin]] {{Wikt-lang|la|terēdō}}), are [[marine life|marine]] [[bivalve]] [[mollusc]]s in the family '''Teredinidae''', a group of saltwater [[clam]]s with long, soft, naked bodies. They are notorious for boring into (and commonly eventually destroying) wood that is immersed in [[seawater]], including such structures as wooden [[pier]]s, [[dock]]s, and ships; they drill passages by means of a pair of very small shells ("[[valve (mollusc)|valves]]") borne at one end, with which they rasp their way through. They are sometimes called "termites of the sea".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garcia |first=Sierra |date=2021-12-24 |title=How "Termites of the Sea" Have Shaped Maritime Technology |url=https://daily.jstor.org/how-termites-of-the-sea-have-shaped-maritime-technology/ |access-date=2022-05-01 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Carl Linnaeus]] assigned the [[common name]] ''[[Teredo (genus)|Teredo]]'' to the best-known genus of shipworms in the 10th edition of his [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic]] ''[[magnum opus]]'', ''[[Systema Naturae|Systema Naturæ]]'' (1758).