A photographer captured a bizarre alien-like sea creature off the coast of Japan. The snap featured a mysterious living being that left scientists scratching their heads.
Mysterious Sea Creature Spotted in Japan Finally Identified
The image was captured in 2018, and it took five years to identify the marine creature. Experts couldn't determine whether the small swimmer, discovered off Japan's coast, was a worm, mollusk, or crab.
According to a new study, the sea creature resembling an extraterrestrial with small "appendages" and a "belly" filled with sperm-shaped organisms is a combination of two parasites.
A closer examination revealed the creature to be a colony of two parasitic larval worms swimming together, according to researchers at the University of Vienna. The appendages were discovered to be distinct organisms, known as "sailors," attached to a blob holding more than a thousand passengers. The two parasites developed A swimmer resembling prey to infect the intestines of an unknowing host.
Japanese underwater photographer Ryo Minemizu found the colony after spotting the ladybug-sized critter 52 feet below the surface. He was swimming off the coast of Kiyan Cape in Okinawa when he spotted the ladybug-sized critter. Hundreds of biologists expressed curiosity after seeing Minemizu's photographs on Instagram, but they could not accurately identify them.
Minemizu was called for a sample by Igor Adameyko, a developmental neurobiologist at the Medical University of Vienna, who solved the puzzle.
The sailors and passengers are members of the digenean family Acanthocolpidae, most likely the species Pleorchis, according to Adameyko's analysis of the material.
A kind of flatworm called Pleorchis typically affects the intestines. The scientist did a DNA test, showing that the passengers and sailors belonged to the same species.
According to the study, the sailors' bodies are flattened, while the passengers' bodies are stumpy with a collar-like bulge in the anterior region. The travelers appeared to be the infectious agents, and the sailors merely transported them to a host.
Adameyko discovered that the sailors had various patterns of group activity because they could beat their tails in unison, resulting in overall pulsating or jumping movements and giving the impression that it was a single swimming creature.
In search of a suitable host, the sailors transport the passengers across the ocean, but their future is uncertain because they lack penetration organs.
What Happened to the Mysterious Beings?
Scientists have put forth two theories about their future. According to the study, they make the ultimate sacrifice to transport passengers.
This situation would suggest that passengers and sailors would have a clear division of labor. An alternative is for sailors to live on within a fish that has consumed an aggregate. Cercariae may enter the digestive tract without needing penetration organs, where they can mature into sexual adult worms.
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