Ghostly whitened tendril blow up out the rearward closing of a sea cucumber might look like a horrifying parasite infection to the naive , but those educate in the ways ofHolothuriidaeknow it ’s a trap . When under scourge , ocean cucumbers unleash a justificative electric organ that ’s sacrificially eject to gross out or fatally ensnare vulture . Now , fresh inquiry has taken a skinny facial expression at this special electronic organ to find out what make it such an good defence .
French animal scientist Georges Cuvier was the first to describe the Cuvierian Hammond organ ( CO ) that ’s discharge by sea cucumber under threat . Since then , the genetic underpinnings for the morbid company trick have remain unclear , but this newfangled research carried out a chromosome - level genome assembly study of the sea cucumberHolothuria leucospilotato find out .
Using electron microscopy , they were able to nail unchewable protein in the CO ’s connective tissue that could account for why it ’s so effective at entangling and ensnaring marauder . This was backed up by genomic psychoanalysis that reveal the membrane proteins contain long , tandem - repeats , a trait seen in the proteins of wanderer and silkworm silk .
Illustration of a tropical sea cucumber (H. leucospilota) expelling its Cuvierian organ to ensnare a potential predator. Image credit: Liang Li
As for how it explosively expel out of the ocean cucumber , poking these animals revealed that the app of physical pressure sensation is enough to trigger the CO that spills out through an acetylcholine - regulated molecular pathway . The genetical analyses also bring out that the CO plausibly move up from respiratory tissue paper that specialized to become the whispy justificatory electric organ it is today .
All in all , it seems there are two primal parts toH. leucospilota ’s genome that are to thank for the peculiar defensive strategy .
“ Evolutionarily , innovational result in two distinct regions of theH. leucospilotagenome have apparently spur CO ’s specialisation from the respiratory tree to a lethal justificative organ against predators , ” concluded the discipline generator .
ocean cucumbers firing out their internal organs in this way is known as disembowelment , and which terminate it comes out of depends on the species . For some , it ’s the head , and in others , it ’s the butt .
Sea cucumber butts are fascinating thing , up to of turning over enough of the Davy Jones’s locker to see “ walking colon”Holothuriidaedumpfive Eiffel - towboat ’s worth of poopper precious coral reef annually . They ’re also the opening through which ocean cucumbers breathe , so their anal retentive anatomical sphincter are constantly opening and closing to bring oxygenated H2O into the rectum .
This opening and closing has come with the side result of many coinage becoming shelter for pearl-fish who see ocean cucumber rectums as prime real estate . While some species address sea cucumber vine like literal hotels , evidently the CO tell us these orifice are not to be treated thinly .
mind theHolothuriidae ’s ass grass .
The study is publish inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
