All articles tagged with #sea anemone
A University of Vienna study shows sea anemones, despite lacking brains, use bilaterian-style bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) shuttling with Chordin to shape their bodies. This suggests the mechanism predates the cnidarian–bilaterian split about 600–700 million years ago, potentially rewriting how and when the human body plan evolved, although convergent evolution remains a possibility.
Researchers found that the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis makes a CARDIB protein that normally suppresses certain immune signals, but is essential for mounting an effective antiviral response. CRISPR-edited anemones lacking CARDIB were more vulnerable, while CARDIB-expressing animals survived better in real estuary conditions, suggesting a 648-million-year-old, independently evolved antiviral mechanism with potential implications for medicine.
Removing DNA methylation in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis had little impact on development but unleashed hidden transposable elements, suggesting DNA methylation evolved as a genomic defense against jumping genes. The study also found that some induced epigenetic changes can be inherited due to limited post-fertilization epigenetic resetting, offering insight into the ancestral role of DNA methylation and the evolution of gene regulation.
NOAA scientists have identified the 4‑inch golden “orb” found two miles deep off Sitka in 2023 as the base of a giant sea anemone, Relicanthus daphneae. The mystery, which sparked egg/alien theories, was solved by integrating morphological, genetic, and deep‑sea data and comparing with other specimens. The finding expands understanding of this species and leads to questions about its reproduction and distribution, with formal naming and further discoveries planned.
Scientists determined that the 4-inch 'golden orb' found about two miles deep off Alaska in 2023 is the dead-cell base of a sea anemone, identified after years of analysis by NOAA, Smithsonian, and partners during the Seascape Alaska mapping program; the orb, which initially puzzled researchers who found it stuck to rock on the seafloor west of Prince of Wales Island, is now in the Smithsonian collection and underscores the program’s role in expanding maps of unmapped Alaska waters and informing continental-shelf claims, with DNA sequencing and other techniques helping solve the mystery.
The world's slowest animals include the three-toed sloth, sea anemone, dwarf seahorse, and Greenland shark, with sloths often considered the slowest due to their extremely low movement speeds and slow metabolism, which are adaptations for their survival strategy.