Marine worms follow Fibonacci's lead

The complicated growth patterns of a group of common marine worms appear to be governed by simple mathematical rules built into their genes, a new report suggests.

The report, which appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests that the appendages that grow along the bodies of some species of polychaete worms follow a mathematical sequence known as the Fibonacci string sequence.

Polychaetes, sometimes called bristle worms, have a segmented body, each with a pair of fleshy appendages covered in bristles.