#echinoderm

[echinoderm-of-the-day]

Whilst this may appear to be some sort of art work composed solely of frisbees, it is in fact today’s echinoderm - Dendraster excentricus, commonly known as the eccentric sand dollar or the sea cake.

Image source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/145839714

[botaniqueer]

[Source article]

More echinoderm fun facts! Not only are echinoderms’ bodies mostly built using the head regions of bilaterian genetics, but they also have a distributed nervous system that all together acts as an all-body brain!

Excerpt:

With hundreds of different types of neurons, sea urchins express both echinoderm head genes and genes also found in the central nervous system of vertebrates. It used to be thought that echinoderms such as sea urchins, sea stars and sea cucumbers had a primitive nerve net, in which some of the diffuse neurons throughout their bodies may form ganglia that serve them as nerve centers, but not all decentralized nervous systems are created equal. The adult sea urchin nervous system is more like a brain that extends through the entire creature.

“The complexity of the sea urchin nervous system, as characterized by the diversity of postmetamorphic neuronal cell type signatures and their integration of diverse PRC systems, leads us to propose that the sea urchin nervous system in its entirety comprises an ‘all-brain’ rather than a ‘no-brain’ state,” the researchers said in a study recently published in Science Advances.

Echinoderms were previously dismissed as having simple nervous systems, like jellyfish, because they lack a centralized brain, but this assumption was mistaken. Analyzing gene expression in sea urchins further revealed that their most abundant cells are neurons. While the same genes are in charge of generating these neurons, there is a drastic difference between the neurons of larvae and juveniles versus those of adults, though some larval neurons are still present after they metamorphose into juveniles.

[fisch-von-schnoggenheimer]

Whole reason i got tumblr actually. Its so great people have blogs dedicated to this. Ive been thinking of joining in but idk..

[vintagewildlife]

Larva of a sea cucumber (Labidoplax sp.) at different stages of development By: Douglas P. Wilson From: The Science of Zoology 1966

[samimarkart]

whale fall 🦴

[lazer-t]

Giant Basket Star for a $15 Ko-fi supporter

Prints | Stickers

[itsjustfish]

Day 17: Star

For @montereybayaquarium ‘s Deep Sea December

[herpsandbirds]

I've only ever known your page to post animal content, have I just been missing these other types of posts forever? Lmao

Have you ever seen this sea cucumber?

Swimming Sea Cucumber aka Headless Chicken Monster (Enypniastes eximia), family Pelagothuriidae, order Elasipodida

Unlike most sea cucumbers, which are benthic (bottom dwelling), this species swims through the water column (nektonic).

images via: NOAA