Excellent a short story Worlds : The Wormerine by Bill Schott

Wogon Worm was a special annelid. Unlike his worm brotherhood, he was able to reconstitute his entire body. Should he ever be caught by a bird, what was left of him would regenerate and return him to completeness. It was quite possible that he was centuries old. Amazingly, Worm Watch Lab, a collaboration between Zooniverse and the Medical Research Council, had tagged worms they had unearthed, to study their migration patterns. After twenty-five years, someone realized that there was one tracked worm that had survived for two and a half decade. Five times longer than any other recorded worm existence. Teams were sent out with shovels to find this anomaly and bring it back for study. Wogon was found and tested for endurance. He was unusually strong, was easily twice the size of other earthworms, and, most shocking, could grow back any flesh that was cut away. It was immediately decided to subject him to implantation of Atom-Antie-Em, the strongest metal known to man (with the possible exception of Vy-Brainy-Ham). The metal had currently been used to make fish hooks, to keep anglers from having to replace broken equipment. They were slow moving on the market at a million dollars a hook. Now, though, one would be inserted through the inner length of Wogon (known affectionately to the lab workers as 'big ass worm'). In a painful and cruel procedure, Wogan was forced upon a Atom-Antie-Em hook until it ran within him, end to end. The scientists were amazed, and began plans for experimenting with other long-lived creatures. There were plans to introduce the metal into giant tortoises, alligators, and lounge singers. Wogon tried to escape, but was basically now a meaty hook. The lead scientist used him to fish out in the local lake. He could catch the limit and still have a pristine hook. Word in the worm world is that he is still there. Wogon Worm at Lake Wobegon.   Author Notes Image from Google Worm World 2 Metal names derived from Marvel comic book names Adamantium and Vibranium. The worm institute Zooniverse and the Medical Research Council actually exist.

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