Sunworm

Sunworms are creatures which appear in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Description
Indigenous to the desert death world of Luther Macintyre IX, Sunworms appear as large maggot-like creatures coated in an oily film. They absorb the small amounts of food that they require through the process of osmosis, and excrete waste in a reversal of this process, but they get most of their energy directly from the rays of the sun. By resting partly in sunlight and partly in shade they can utilise their bodies as photoelectric cells, absorbing energy for later use. Sunworms are also capable of using this stored power as a defence mechanism, releasing a portion of it as an electrical discharge in the event it feels threatened.

The Sunworm's unusual abilities have led many Imperial scholars to speculate on the possibility of employing them as biological batteries.