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  1. Jun 2024
    1. by ectodermal gland cells

      This relates to gbonet's comment on spiders and the Cnidaria's evolutionary similarities. In an article I read, it pointed out that the epithelia of three major salivary glands may be of ectodermal origin, and spiders deliver venom from modified salivary glands.

    2. A planula larva emerges from the egg package 48–72 hpf and starts swimming in the water

      I am a bit excited that I predicted this information after researching a bit of the first few sentences!

    3. They then become swimming larvae, barely visible to the naked eye, that do not feed

      This interested me and I was wondering if these would be considered planula larvae? If so it is extremely interesting and I wonder when their mouth and digestive tract develop. I also learned a new term-- lecithotrophy. Which means that they feed on egg yolk and materials put in the egg by the mother (I would assume the ladder is not applicable since the sea anemones shoot out their sperm and eggs to reproduce there is not time for preparation of greater material).

    4. The oldest extant group of venomous animals is the marine phylum Cnidaria, which includes sea anemones, corals, jellyfish and hydroids.

      I wonder when comparing the evolutionary tree of a Cnidaria species to the evolutionary tree of a snake, or spider, how similar would they be?

    5. The starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, is becoming a leading cnidarian lab model as unlike many other cnidarian species it can be grown in the lab throughout its life cycle. This makes Nematostella a unique system to study the venom of an animal with a complex life cycle. Another advantage is that the high genetic homogeneity of the common Nematostella lab strain minimizes individual genetic variation, which is far from trivial in most other venomous animals collected from the wild in limited numbers.

      These are all valid reasons that support the claim that the Starlet Sea Anemone is a prime model organism for studying the venom of an animal with a complex life cycle.

  2. May 2024
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  4. Mar 2024