Whats the longest animal in the world? My mate says its a tape-worm?

Answer 1

According to discovery.com, the longest animal in the world is a
siphonophore:
Praya, a siphonophore like the Apolemia , claims the record as the longest
animal on Earth. Led by two swimming bells, its 130-foot body, slim as a fat
pen, moves like a roller coaster through the water:
http://www.discovery.com/stories/nature/creatures/creatures.html
But then there's this ribbon worm Mr. Brock mentioned:
The longest animal ever recorded is the ribbon worm (also known as Lineus
longissimus), this creature has been measured at 180 feet when it was washed
ashore in Scotland in the late 1800's (a smorgasbord for the birds!):
http://www.pawprints.com/communitycentre/didyouno.htm

Answer 2

The tapeworm is definitely an animal. It is multi-cellular, living, and does not produce its own food (photosynthesize) - that's pretty much the textbook definition of an animal. They are in Phylum Platyhelminthes.

The longest tapeworm species that infects humans is the fish or broad tapeworm (Diphyllobothrium latum), which averages about 10 metres in length. There are reports that at least one specimen was 39 metres in length, which would make it even longer than the ribbonworm mentioned above. However I'm not sure about the veracity of that report. Other citations mention the longest measurement as 39 feet, which is considerably shorter.

As far as other critters go, the lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea arctica) has tentacles that can easily extend past 40 metres. This could make it the longest animal if you are willing to count the tentacles in the size measure, and I don't see why they wouldn't be.

Also, note that the sizes given above for the fish tapeworm are from human victims. Humans get the tapeworm from eating fish, and there may well be other critters that get the same tapeworm that could grow even longer. For example, blue whales often swallow fish as they feed. I see no reason why the parasite couldn't infect them just as easily as they do humans. No one has kept records of parasites found in whales though. Imagine what size those intestinal parasites could get to inside the belly of a giant whale!! It would not surprise me in the least if the tapeworms found in a whale were the longest animals on Earth.

Answer 3

The world's longest animal ever found was a Lineus Longissimus which washed upon the shore of Scotland in the late 1800's

Better known as the Ribbon Worm, it measure 180 feet in length, beating out the longest Dinosaur and the Blue Whale for the title.

Answer 4

some great answers in here for a change, just have to with the worm is an animal enough good definition earlier.
There much on the bottom of the ocean we dont know about Giant squids are only just being researched and specimens 18 metres in length 59 feet have been found and there could be bigger at greater depths

Answer 5

Tape worms are parasites and not animals. Id have to go with a blue whale. Also even if a tape worm was an animal it would still get beaten by loads of other animals.

Answer 6

Any living thing which is not a plant is an animal, so a blue whale would probably take the prize as the longest animal.

Answer 7

Peter Crouch

Answer 8

I don't think Tapeworm qualifies as an Animal, I always thought it was the Blue whale

Answer 9

blue whale - 50 meters long
it's also the largest animal in the world

Answer 10

tapeworms are long, but I would have thought the blue whale was the longest.