[HN Gopher] 'Mind-boggling' sea creature identified as digenean ...
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       'Mind-boggling' sea creature identified as digenean trematode
        
       Author : austinallegro
       Score  : 75 points
       Date   : 2023-09-24 08:46 UTC (14 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.science.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.science.org)
        
       | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
       | > This phenomenon, in which one member of a species forgoes its
       | own chance to reproduce so that another can, is called kin
       | selection.
       | 
       | So why don't the one species die out? When do they reproduce?
        
         | mac-chaffee wrote:
         | Kin selection takes place within a single species:
         | 
         | > The DNA confirmed that both the sailors and tiny passengers
         | inside the hemisphere belong to the same species.
        
         | reubenmorais wrote:
         | One /member/ forgoes reproduction, not one /species/. It's akin
         | to a sibling deciding that they won't have kids so they can
         | help their sibling raise their own. The sacrificing family
         | member passes their DNA on because they share DNA with kin.
        
       | twic wrote:
       | Parasites are always the weirdest.
       | 
       | Parasitic crustaceans: https://bogleech.com/bio-paracrust
       | 
       | Parasitic jellyfish: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-
       | amoeba/when-jell...
       | 
       | Another parasitic jellyfish (its larva develops inside-out, then
       | turns itself outside-in when it bursts out of its host!):
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polypodium_hydriforme
        
         | soxocx wrote:
         | The creatures in the first link (be warned) look like they are
         | from an alien horror movie. Nature and live how it forms and
         | develops is just amazing.
        
       | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
       | That's pretty cool. It's like a teeny, suicidal, Portuguese Man
       | O' War.
       | 
       | The "Kin Selection" thing is fairly common in insects.
       | 
       | Most workers and soldiers in hives are sterile females (so when
       | those white-faced hornets swarm your ass, it's "Hell hath no
       | fury" in action).
        
       | dools wrote:
       | It's like a floating Rat King:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king
        
       | iancmceachern wrote:
       | This thing is terrifying.
       | 
       | It's like a Trojan Horse (the weapon of war) and. Trojan Horse
       | (the malware) both in one
        
         | hermitcrab wrote:
         | It looks positively cuddly compared to a Bobbit Worm (find a
         | video on Youtube, if you dare).
        
       | ethbr1 wrote:
       | >> _Some flukes have evolved a behavior in which the larvae join
       | into shapes that mimic small organisms. In doing so, they entice
       | a fish to eat the larvae, so they can continue their life cycle
       | inside the host._
       | 
       | >> _These passengers, it seems, act as the infectious agents,
       | waiting to infiltrate the gills or intestines of a fish that
       | swallows them. The sailors, meanwhile, do the hard work of moving
       | the blob through the water--but in [sic, doing so] sacrifice
       | their own opportunities to reproduce._
       | 
       | That's fascinating! Dr. Ian Malcolm, your quote forever echoes.
        
       | pvaldes wrote:
       | wha-a-a-a-at?
       | 
       | For the first time in a lot of time, they used the term mind-
       | boggling accurately. I had never ever seen something like this
       | before in a digenean.
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-24 23:00 UTC)