There are always all kinds of strange things appearing on the beach. An Australian nature lover was shocked when he saw this creature in front of him for the first time. The top of the long tube is connected to a blood-red ball. The ball is uneven and grainy. The whole thing is "scary" and "strange", and it feels like it comes from another planet.
After the photo was posted online, netizens watched enthusiastically.
Some people speculate that this is the brain of an alien, with a long spinal cord connected to a brain.
Some people think that this is the "placenta" of some kind of animal. The color is too similar. It is blood-colored above and flesh-colored below.
Others suspected: This may be the flower of a plant that looks too much like a tulip.
The funniest thing is that some people think this is Aquaman's mouse, and the person who found it must return the mouse to Disney Studio.
However, in the end, experienced scientists gave an accurate answer:
It's an undersea animal called a sea squirt, but its ultimate goal is to live like a plant. In order to lie down, it would rather "eat" its own brain.
As we grow up, our spinal cord disappears and our brain degenerates.
Sea squirt is an ancient animal with a history of 540 million years.
Its evolutionary position is very special. It is the most evolved among invertebrates, but the least evolved among vertebrates, because it has a notochord, a structure that is lower than the spine.
There are many kinds of sea squirts, many colors, and the appearance is also very different.
Most are flower- or eggplant-shaped, fixed to the seafloor, but with a large opening at the top.
It is quite common to see it on the beach. Japan and South Korea call this "potato-like" sea squirt "sea pineapple", and it is their favorite food.
The "undersea panda" that was popular on the Internet before was also a kind of sea squirt. Its name is Skeleton Panda Ascidia, and its scientific name is Clavelinaossipandae. It was only officially named in February 2024.
The biggest characteristic of ascidians is that they develop backwards throughout their lives.
When they are young, they are like tadpoles, with a tail, a notochord, and developed neural tubes and brain vesicles. It can be said that the souls of sea squirts at this stage are free and can move around.
However, it is free for no more than 36 hours, and then it will find a suitable place to attach.
When its front end comes into contact with a surface such as a stone, it will secrete an adhesive to stick firmly, and the body will also undergo irreversible changes. The most significant is that the notochord will disappear, the brain will degenerate into a ganglion, and other organs will also disappear.
The body will expand into a hollow pot shape. The opening at the top is used to suck in seawater and filter it for a living. There is also a small opening for drainage.
This growth pattern is similar to that of barnacles, which start out as free and eventually evolve into a sedentary lifestyle.
Barnacles are relatively smart and will also look for large animals as parasites, while ascidians basically attach themselves to dead objects.
In order to achieve this kind of lying-down life, ascidians also undergo "degenerative metamorphosis". To put it simply, the larvae of ascidians are more advanced and grow longer, but the adults degenerate.
Sea pineapple: hard to judge the taste
The appearance is so strange that it still cannot stop people from eating it.
Sea squirt has high nutritional value, but it is still relatively niche as a food. This is related to its controversial taste.
People's evaluations of it vary greatly. Some people think it is delicious and sweet, so many people eat it raw or mix it with rice.
Japan and South Korea are the largest consumers of ascidians. In order to continue supplying ascidians, artificial cultivation of sea pineapples has been implemented very early.
However, some people reported that sea squirts have a strange taste, are not crispy in texture, taste like eating rubber, and have a bitter taste in their mouth, like "rubber soaked in ammonia", which has nothing to do with Hui Gan.
Such comments will repel many diners who want to taste sea squirt.
However, a company in Norway doesn't want to miss out on this food and is working hard to develop and promote sea squirt meat burgers.
The company believes that sea squirts have high nutritional value, are easy to breed, require little investment, and have a relatively small carbon footprint, making them a sustainable source of protein.
The only points of contention are that it looks too strange and off-putting, and the taste is rather strange.
So this company decided to mince the sea squirt meat, then add tomato sauce and cheese to make it look like "meat" in terms of texture and taste, hoping to make the sea squirt a future super food.