The Lemmy Club
  • Communities
  • Create Post
  • Create Community
  • heart
    Support Lemmy
  • search
    Search
  • Login
  • Sign Up
DocMcStuffin@lemmy.world to science@lemmy.world · 2 years ago

Long presumed to have no heads at all, starfish may be nothing but

phys.org

external-link
message-square
19
link
fedilink
  • cross-posted to:
  • [email protected]
190
external-link

Long presumed to have no heads at all, starfish may be nothing but

phys.org

DocMcStuffin@lemmy.world to science@lemmy.world · 2 years ago
message-square
19
link
fedilink
  • cross-posted to:
  • [email protected]
For centuries, naturalists have puzzled over what might constitute the head of a sea star, commonly called a "starfish." When looking at a worm, or a fish, it's clear which end is the head and which is the tail. But with their five identical arms—any of which can take the lead in propelling sea stars across the seabed—it's been anybody's guess how to determine the front end of the organism from the back. This unusual body plan has led many to conclude that sea stars perhaps don't have a head at all.
  • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    78
    ·
    2 years ago

    That’s pretty interesting. Using generic sequencing compared to other organisms, they’re missing the sequences for torso and tail. Plus the sequences that are usually in front tub down the center of each arm.

    • LanternEverywhere@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      2 years ago

      Thanks for the TLDR

    • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 years ago

      So is it one creature or a group of creatures?

      • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        2 years ago

        One creature, they were just looking at where the genes expressed. There’s a surprising amount of commonality in the DNA between animals, so they’re able to look at where those common genes express on one vs another.

      • Someology@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 years ago

        One creature that is all head.

      • lingh0e@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 years ago

        Depends on how many chunks you slice them into…?

science@lemmy.world

science@lemmy.world

Subscribe from Remote Instance

Create a post
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

rule #1: be kind

Visibility: Public
globe

This community can be federated to other instances and be posted/commented in by their users.

  • 293 users / day
  • 1.5K users / week
  • 3.03K users / month
  • 9.8K users / 6 months
  • 25 local subscribers
  • 18.4K subscribers
  • 2.01K Posts
  • 18.1K Comments
  • Modlog
  • mods:
  • m3t00🌎@lemmy.world
  • Joleee@lemmy.world
  • laverabe@lemmy.world
  • DeadPand@midwest.social
  • laverabe@lemmy.zip
  • BE: 0.19.11
  • Modlog
  • Legal
  • Instances
  • Docs
  • Code
  • join-lemmy.org