Who are the Pests Under the Sea? – 5 Pests of SpongeBob SquarePants

Who are the Pests Under the Sea? – 5 Pests of SpongeBob SquarePants

As we have established on this blog, cartoons are a great medium for taking some of our most common frustrations and fears and turning them into silly, brightly colored episodes. One such everyday problem is a pest invasion, especially if that pest poses some kind of danger, like wasps or cockroaches. But the good news is that our pests aren’t larger than our houses or capable of consuming entire buildings in ten seconds. Those problems are reserved for that lovable yellow sponge and his marine crew in SpongeBob SquarePants. Since this fan-favorite show has over 200 episodes and over 20 years under its belt, there have likely been pest-centered episodes that have flown under our radar in recent years. So we’ll just focus on five of the most memorable pests from older episodes of the show and how they relate to our land pests, even if ours aren’t as exciting.

The Alaskan Bull Worm

Episode: Season 2, Episode 40b: “Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm”

If you or your children have been fans of SpongeBob since the show was in its (subjective) prime early on, this may have been the pest that came to mind. The giant worm tunneled under the city, eating anything that interested it along the way, until it finally ate through half of SpongeBob’s house and scared him into telling everyone at the Krusty Krab about the horrific worm. He described it as huge, pink, wiggly, and all-consuming, then identified it as an Alaskan Bull Worm. Sandy the squirrel volunteers to go after it on a revenge quest since it somehow ate her tail, but SpongeBob begs her not to go as he is convinced that she will lose the fight. After a humorous sequence where SpongeBob constantly stalls Sandy, she finally gets to the “worm” in a cave and ties it in a knot to teach it a lesson. But it turns out that SpongeBob was right and the “cave” was the actual worm (who was not happy about its tongue being tied up), which then angrily chased the two friends until it ran off a cliff and crashed onto the city that the residents pushed away (Patrick’s idea, of course).

Technically, this worm is not based off of one specific worm in real life. There is not an Alaskan Bull Worm in the natural world, but there are some uncomfortably large worms that could be comparable. One is the giant sea worm, called a pyrosome, that measures about 30 feet long and is native to the New Zealand coast. It’s much looser than the worm in the episode, but the pink color is a match for sure. The closest example to the Alaskan Bull Worm is probably the Giant Gippsland earthworm, which is a monster of a creature. It measures about 3.3 feet long and 2 centimeters in diameter, not as long as the pyrosome but still very long for a worm. They mainly stay in damp soil and function as a normal earthworm, except for the fact that you can hear them moving since they make a squishy sound in the mud, thanks to their size. There are likely plenty of worms and parasites that could resemble this specific worm, but considering the eerie fact that we have only discovered about 5% of the ocean, we won’t know if there is a real Alaskan Bull Worm for quite a long time. 

The Burger-Eating Roach

Episode: Season 3, Episode 45a: “Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV”

While this creature is definitely a major pest in our world, it is actually depicted in a pretty positive way in this episode. The roach isn’t a major plot point for this episode despite its later rise as an Internet icon. This cute burger-munching insect is given his own personal Krabby Patty, shrunk down to size along with the rest of the Krusty Krab kitchen. This was all the result of SpongeBob finding Mermaid Man’s shrinking belt and using it to downsize all kinds of things in the restaurant as a toy. The roach and his generic roach friend both receive an insect-sized burger from SpongeBob and are welcomed to sit at the shrunken tables like a miniature version of the famous eatery. SpongeBob is enjoying the company of his new friends, but Squidward arrives and is a little less pleased with what he is witnessing. This part of the scene only lasts a few seconds and they don’t have any lines, but they are still memorable thanks to the lasting power of the Internet. 

The anatomy of these roaches is actually pretty accurate to our real roaches, similar to the accuracies of the sea creatures designed by marine biologist and creator, Steven Hillenburg. The animated roaches have six legs, two antennae, two eyes, and various brown coloring. This is standard of the roach species we know, like the American cockroach. The roaches in SpongeBob are a little rounder than normal, but we’ll chalk that up to cartoon aesthetics. There are two roaches in the scene; one looks like a normal roach that carries a Krabby Patty away on its back, and the other is the famous burger-eating one. There is a smaller detail here that is actually very accurate. Real roaches love meat and grease, so the idea of them eating miniature burgers is not far-fetched. Cockroaches also prefer to run away when disturbed rather than fly, so the animated ground-dwelling roaches are realistic in that sense as well. The roach customer may have become a recent Internet meme, but the accuracies of the roach details are pretty impressive too. 

The Terrifying Wormy

Episode: Season 2, Episode 25a: “Wormy”

What begins as a wholesome sequence of SpongeBob and Patrick petsitting Sandy’s worm, Wormy, turns into an apocalyptic nightmare when the town is terrified after Wormy turns into a butterfly. The best friends have fun playing hide-and-seek with the worm and bid him good night at the end of the day, only to return the next day to find an empty cocoon and no Wormy. A butterfly (assumed to be a monarch butterfly) flies around and scares them when it lands on their water-filled helmets, leading them to believe that a monster is on the loose. They release it from Sandy’s dome in a bubble, which floats into town and scares the rest of the citizens that rampage the city until Sandy returns and casually traps it in a jar to inadvertently save the city. 

If you were to ask anyone born in the late 90s or early 2000s who grew up with this show, a majority of them would list this episode as their least favorite due to the intense fear of insects it induced. This is because the innocent premise of SpongeBob and Patrick being terrified of Sandy’s pet butterfly is punctuated with a close-up of a supposed real butterfly, complete with terrifying compound eyes and a loud buzzing that has been replicated in children’s nightmares ever since it aired. Fun fact: this whole episode was actually banned in certain countries because these shots of the real insect scared children so much! But you may be surprised to learn that this close-up is not even of a butterfly: it’s a horsefly! This explains the loud buzzing and horrifying visage, since horseflies are much scarier appearance-wise than butterflies. But both have large compound eyes and a bit of fuzz on their bodies, so there may be enough similarities for this horrific closeup. Wormy may be a typical picturesque cartoon worm, but his real butterfly stage is definitely scarier than many cartoons would dare to go.

There are a few accuracies with Wormy and his transformation, but there are also some things to clarify. Wormy begins as a green worm with white spots and can only inch along the ground, which is reminiscent of our real inchworms. But inchworms later become geometer moths, not butterflies. Real butterflies are also completely harmless to us just like Wormy is after he transforms, which is the comedic point of the episode. The largest inaccuracy of this episode is Wormy’s transformation itself. He goes to sleep in a cocoon and emerges as a full butterfly in the morning. Metamorphosis for real butterflies is actually a longer process, lasting anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months depending on the species. They can’t fly immediately after emerging because their wings need time to stretch and dry out. A smaller inaccuracy is that Wormy’s wings have thicker black veins, which is more traditional of a female butterfly than a male. But it’s more common to determine the gender of a butterfly after metamorphosis, so that could be the reason why.

The Villainous Moth

Episode: Season 5, Episode 82b: “Night Light”

This is the latest episode on this list, originally airing in 2007, but it still contains some of that classic SpongeBob humor and charm. After SpongeBob frantically purchases a ton of lightbulbs to combat his sudden fear of the dark, Patrick and him finish their quest by putting a lighthouse inside SpongeBob’s house that displays the signal for Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy to arrive at the scene. Unfortunately, that means that Mermaid Man’s old nemesis, The Moth, is also drawn to the light for more than one reason. After coming to enact his 57-year-long revenge plot, SpongeBob traps him in the lighthouse light and watches as The Moth uses his super strength to carry both the lighthouse and the actual house away into the night.

Thankfully, our moths are not nearly strong enough to carry away any kind of lighthouse. The Moth also looks quite different from normal moths, what with his muscular physique and man-shaped body. His green and beige coloring, red eyes, and giants wings are reminiscent of various moth species put together. Real moths have compound eyes, meaning they can see just about every angle besides directly behind them. The Moth’s eyes could be considered to be compound since they also have the grid pattern that we see on close-ups of moths and flies. The overall appearance of The Moth is similar to two different beings. One is Mothman, a humanoid creature from Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the 1960s that has become a part of modern folklore. The Moth is a little less intimidating than this creature, but they are both equal parts moth and man. But the second (and more realistic) lookalike is the banana skipper butterfly. This butterfly species has red eyes and usually brown and yellow or white coloring, which is very similar to The Moth. The real butterfly is not able to move lighthouses and does not have an arch nemesis that we know of, but at least it looks similar to an animated supervillain.

The Famished Nematodes

Episode: Season 1, Episode 5b: “Home Sweet Pineapple”

This episode uses a well-known cartoon pest trope, where “termites” consume entire homes and large items in the span of a few seconds. But since we’re underwater, it would not make sense to have normal termites fly through the ocean. This is where these nematodes, bouncing worms that operate as one unit, come in. They eat all kinds of things in the very beginning of the episode, from a boat mobile to a building to coral, only to end by drinking SpongeBob’s pineapple home from existence. We don’t see them for the rest of the episode, but the damage is literally done as SpongeBob and his pet snail Gary have to find a new home before they are forced to move away. That is, until one pineapple seed sprouts the perfect house at the last second and gives our protagonists another chance at living in their favorite place.

Nematodes do exist in real life, but the ones in this episode are more reminiscent of eusocial insects. They swarm like locusts and have a “hive mind” like bees and wasps where they work for the good of the colony. The leader of the nematodes in this show functions almost like a non-reproducing queen, calling out orders and directing the group on where to go. But real nematodes look like non-segmented worms and actually eat insects. There are different kinds that each eat various plants, bacteria, fungi, and insects. These microscopic organisms live mainly in the top layers of soil where there are the most water and nutrients. One species of nematodes actually eat termites, which is great news for homeowners everywhere. Some sources even say to soak nematodes in water, then spray the mixture on a termite infestation. Nematodes die after eating a lot of termites, so the natural pest control takes care of itself. The nematodes in this episode may function as aquatic termites, but they are a termite’s worst nightmare in our world!

The Professional Pest Control

While these pests make for some wildly entertaining episodes, SpongeBob probably wished he had some help with handling these creatures of the deep (besides the roach diners). The pests we see in our own homes and yards are smaller and less intimidating than these, but that doesn’t mean we want them hanging around our space. Our team of experienced pest control technicians is ready to treat all kinds of pest concerns before they become larger issues. Contact us today for more information on our efficient treatments and how we can prevent your pest concerns from growing into major problems as large as that city-sized aquatic worm.

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Citations

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