A new sea creature was discovered near Antarctica, giving an "alien" vibe. However, for some reason, it also bizarrely resembles one fruit - strawberry.
Get to Know the Antarctic Strawberry Feather Star
A new study discovered a new species of feather star, and the researchers named it Promachocrinus fragarius. It belongs to the class Crinoidea, including starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers. According to the report, "fragarius" is derived from the Latin word "fragum," which means strawberry.
The alien-like sea creature is also called the Antarctic strawberry feather star because it looks like a strawberry. At first glance, you won't see its resemblance to the fruit. However, when the researchers zoomed its body, they noticed a tiny nub at the apex of all its arms that looked like the size and shape of strawberries.
It has 20 arms, some of which are bumpy and some are feathery. According to Greg Rouse, a marine biology professor at the University of California, San Diego, the arms can be up to eight inches long. They are reportedly spread out to aid its mobility.
They found the cirri - the smaller tentacle-like strings poking out from the base - on the circular bumps on its body. However, they removed it to show the attachment points.
Rouse explained that they removed many of the cirri to see their joined components, which look like strawberries.
According to the professor, the Promachocrinus kerguelensis was the only species that once belonged to the Antarctic feather star group. But, scientists from Australia and the US discovered four new species that may belong to the Antarctic feather star group while dragging a net around the Southern Ocean in search of further specimens of these critters.
The amount of "arms" on the Antarctic strawberry feather star stands out. According to Rouse, most feather stars only have ten arms.
The "arms" of a feather star are typically extended out and upward, while the cirri are directed downward, the expert noted.
Rouse explained that by including the four newly discovered animals and "resurrecting" previously discovered creatures that were first thought to be separate species, researchers could now add eight species to the category of Antarctic feather stars.
Therefore, under the name Promachocrinus, they have gone from one species with 20 arms to eight species, six of which have 20 arms while the others have 10.
What Is a Feather Star?
Feather stars are any of the 550 surviving species of crinoid marine invertebrates (class Crinoidea) in the phylum Echinodermata that lack a stalk are referred to as The fifth arm is typically one of the swimming arms with feathery fringes.
Feather stars feed on drifting microorganisms by capturing them in the sticky arm grooves of their grabbing "legs" (known as cirri), which they employ to cling to sponges, corals, or other substrata. Though they are frequently called "comatulids" and traditionally fall under a single order (Comatulida), feather stars are divided into many orders by various authorities.
The majority of feather stars are found in shallow water on stony grounds. Where Tropiometra is the most prevalent genus, they are most prevalent from the Indian Ocean to Japan. The most well-known genus in the Atlantic is Antedon.
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