All articles tagged with #ctenophores
Researchers documented 15 comb jellies (ctenophores) in Colombia’s Caribbean and Pacific waters, including six species never recorded in the country before. Because these fragile organisms dissolve when nets are used, scientists relied on underwater photography and citizen science to catalog them, highlighting the rich biodiversity of gelatinous plankton and the value of non-invasive methods in remote marine exploration.
Recent genomic research reveals that ctenophores, or comb jellies, are the earliest known branch of the animal tree of life, predating sponges, which challenges previous assumptions and suggests that complex traits like nerves and muscles may have evolved independently in different lineages, reshaping our understanding of animal evolution.
A groundbreaking genomic study reveals that ctenophores, not sponges, are the earliest branch of the animal tree of life, challenging previous assumptions and suggesting complex traits like nervous systems may have evolved more than once, reshaping our understanding of animal origins.
A new study based on chromosome structure has determined that comb jellies, or ctenophores, were the first lineage to diverge from the animal tree of life, preceding sponges. This research contributes to our understanding of early animal evolution and offers insight into the origin of key features of animal biology such as the nervous system, muscles, and the digestive tract. The study relied on the organization of genes into chromosomes to determine the evolutionary relationships among diverse creatures, shedding light on the earliest animal ancestors.
The nervous system of ctenophores, also known as comb jellies, has a fused network of neurons that are not connected through synapses, challenging theories about how the nervous system evolved. The neurons are fused and share a continuous membrane, forming what scientists call a syncytium. This distinct nerve net supports the idea that their nervous system could have evolved independently of that of other animals. The results also rekindle a century-old debate involving the two neuroscientists who shared the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on the structure of the nervous system.