Caviar of the South Pacific: Palolo Worms

Every year in November, the palolo worms come to the waters of the South Pacific.  In Samoa palolo worms swarm in vast numbers.  Men, women and children stand in the shallow water with Coleman lanterns and nets, like butterfly nets, to capture the worms and dump them in a larger bucket.  Men launch boats to scoop up the worms in deeper water.  Great numbers of worms, as thick as vermicelli are a South Pacific delicacy.  The hunt for the worms is over in a few short hours.  The blue and green worms are gathered up by eager Samoans, and many swallow them raw on the spot.  Most scoop them up and dump them in buckets for the next day's celebration.

After gathering this delicacy, the next day is a kind of Thanksgiving celebration feast.  The palolo worms are either fried or baked into a loaf with coconut milk on toast.  They are salty, and some say they're like caviar.  One writer described them as follows:
With the first taste of palolo I understood the Samoans’ love for it. Certainly it suggested a salty caviar, but with something added, a strong, rich whiff of the mystery and fecundity of the ocean depths.

—R. Steinberg. Pacific and Southeast Asian cooking. Time-Life Books, New York, 1970

The worms only swarm once a year, so the locals gather them and eat them right away.  Interesting to know about these worms, but for a salty taste I'll stick to the fish eggs(caviar) I know and love.