Date: 10/09/2022 12:12:00
From: dv
ID: 1930875
Subject: Transient anus

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2195656-animal-with-an-anus-that-comes-and-goes-could-reveal-how-ours-evolved/

A jellyfish-like creature has a neat trick that makes it unique among animals: its anus forms only when it needs to defecate, then disappears without a trace.

“That is the really spectacular finding here,” says Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, who made the discovery. “There is no documentation of a transient anus in any other animals that I know of.”

Tamm thinks the discovery might represent an intermediate stage in evolution.

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Date: 10/09/2022 13:49:52
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1930905
Subject: re: Transient anus

> A jellyfish-like creature …

That’s dumbing it down too much. A ctenophore, a comb jelly.
Not a jellyfish – medusozoa. Not even a cnidarian.

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Date: 10/09/2022 14:21:22
From: Michael V
ID: 1930931
Subject: re: Transient anus

The ctenophores I find on the beach here all have anuses.

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Date: 10/09/2022 14:43:53
From: dv
ID: 1930946
Subject: re: Transient anus

Michael V said:


The ctenophores I find on the beach here all have anuses.

It’s great to have a hobby

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Date: 10/09/2022 14:53:17
From: Michael V
ID: 1930952
Subject: re: Transient anus

dv said:


Michael V said:

The ctenophores I find on the beach here all have anuses.

It’s great to have a hobby

I didn’t know what they were when I first encountered them, so I observed very very carefully.

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Date: 10/09/2022 15:06:34
From: PermeateFree
ID: 1930958
Subject: re: Transient anus

dv said:


Michael V said:

The ctenophores I find on the beach here all have anuses.

It’s great to have a hobby

whatever rocks your boat.

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