Shape of Life: Echinoderms - The Ultimate Animal

00:13:55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_S-dASjQ-w

Zusammenfassung

TLDRThe video delves into the unique adaptations and evolutionary biology of echinoderms, highlighting how these animals, including sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers, have survived and thrived for over 500 million years. Echinoderms exhibit special characteristics such as five-part symmetry and hydraulic tube feet, which allow them to move efficiently and feed on various marine organisms. The video illustrates the feeding behaviors of these creatures, detailing how sea stars use their tube feet to pry open shells and externally digest their prey. This exploration of echinoderms showcases the diverse pathways of evolution and the success of life forms that differ drastically from mammals. It emphasizes that these unusual animals are highly effective survivors in their own right, illustrating the concept that there are many ways to thrive in the natural world.

Mitbringsel

  • 🌊 Echinoderms are a unique group of marine animals, including sea stars and sea urchins.
  • 🔄 Their bodies exhibit five-part symmetry, allowing for diverse adaptations.
  • 💪 They have hydraulic tube feet for movement and feeding.
  • 🦠 Sea stars can externally digest prey by extending their stomachs into the shell.
  • 🌿 Sea urchins graze on kelp, impacting marine ecosystems significantly.
  • 🐢 Sea cucumbers recycle nutrients on the ocean floor, enriching the ecosystem.
  • 🔬 Echinoderms lack brains but have a nerve ring for movement coordination.
  • 📅 Echinoderms have existed for over 500 million years, showcasing evolutionary success.
  • 🌅 They have light-sensitive organs to detect changes in their environment.
  • 🌍 Echinoderms demonstrate that success in nature comes in many forms.

Zeitleiste

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    In the natural world, echinoderms, such as sea stars and sea urchins, illustrate a unique form of success, thriving with a design that deviates from conventional animal traits like brains or speed. Echinoderms possess a five-part symmetry governing their body plan and showcase remarkable adaptations, such as sea stars' flexible arms and a nerve ring that coordinates movement without a central brain. Their evolutionary longevity extends beyond 500 million years, revealing innovative solutions to survival challenges, exemplified by urchins that graze voraciously on kelp, significantly impacting their ecosystem.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:13:55

    Beneath the ocean surface, echinoderms like sea cucumbers and brittle stars play crucial ecological roles. Sea cucumbers act as 'vacuum cleaners' of the deep, processing organic material from the sediment, while brittle stars use their unique method of feeding by wafting arms to capture plankton. The hydraulic tube feet of sea stars function like sophisticated machines, enabling mobility and efficient prey capture. Their predatory methods, including pushing their stomachs into shells of mussels to digest them, showcase ingenuity in survival strategies, reflecting a complex interdependent web of life within marine ecosystems.

Mind Map

Video-Fragen und Antworten

  • What are echinoderms?

    Echinoderms are a group of marine animals including sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers, known for their unique five-part symmetry and adaptations.

  • How do echinoderms move?

    Echinoderms use hydraulically powered tube feet to move; these are inflated by water and allow for movement in any direction.

  • What do sea urchins eat?

    Sea urchins primarily graze on kelp and other algae, significantly impacting their ecosystem.

  • How do sea stars catch their prey?

    Sea stars use their tube feet to pry open shells and then extend their stomachs to digest prey externally.

  • How long have echinoderms existed?

    Echinoderms have been evolving and thriving for over half a billion years.

  • What role do sea cucumbers play in the ecosystem?

    Sea cucumbers act as vacuum cleaners of the sea floor, recycling organic materials and enriching sediment.

  • Do echinoderms have brains?

    No, echinoderms do not have brains; instead, they have a nerve ring that coordinates their movements.

  • What is the significance of the five-part symmetry in echinoderms?

    The five-part symmetry is a defining feature of echinoderms, representing a unique body plan that influences their structure and function.

  • Can echinoderms see?

    Echinoderms do not have conventional eyes but have light-sensitive organs to detect light and darkness.

  • How do brittle stars feed?

    Brittle stars catch prey by waving their feathery arms, trapping plankton from the water.

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Untertitel
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Automatisches Blättern:
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    [Music]
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    in The Game of Life many of Earth's most
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    winning creatures have neither
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    Brawn nor
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    [Music]
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    brain nor
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    speed
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    [Music]
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    they are so different from us we barely
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    recognize them as
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    animals yet they are movers and shakers
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    of their own
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    domain echinoderms show us that ours is
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    not the only way to be successful as an
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    animal even the most familiar of eadms
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    can seem strange and
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    alien the sea star is is a headless
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    faceless Wonder a collection of arms
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    that forms a five-pointed
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    star like all ainad derms its body is
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    based on five-part
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    symmetry in fact every ainm is a
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    variation on this five-part body
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    [Music]
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    plan join the Sear's arms together and
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    you get a surprising variation the basic
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    shape of its close relative the sea
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    urchin the five arms have become a
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    five-part
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    sphere turn the urchin on its side and
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    give its body a good stretch you've
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    created a c
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    cucumber the five-part sphere has become
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    a five-part
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    [Music]
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    tube under the surface Ain ofms are
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    equally unusual usual the sea star
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    skeleton is nothing like our
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    own just beneath the skin lies a lattice
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    work made up of thousands of bony
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    platelets they're woven together by
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    minuscule muscles which can Flex the
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    arms in any
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    direction they have Incredible strength
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    and endurance a special protein allows
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    them to lock their arms in position
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    effortlessly for hours something our
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    muscles could never
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    do instead of a brain echinoderms have a
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    nerve ring a living relay station it
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    acts to coordinate the movements of
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    their
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    arms how do creatures built on such a
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    simple design so different from our own
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    complex bodies manag to survive and even
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    Thrive for over half a billion years
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    they've evolved radical solutions to
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    Life's
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    challenges they are a modern-day
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    evolutionary
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    [Music]
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    success urchins are grazers munching
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    their way through submarine pastures of
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    plant and
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    algae along the California coast urchins
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    can reach plague
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    proportions they have a voracious
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    appetite for giant
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    kelp seen in time lapse urchins spring
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    into Eerie
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    life devouring anything edible in their
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    path urchins don't have eyes so they
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    can't see where they're going
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    but they do have sensory tube feet which
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    wave to and fro tasting the water for
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    anything good to
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    eat the feet act like a Bucket Brigade
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    passing the food from one sticky sucker
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    to the next pulling the meal
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    relentlessly toward the powerful
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    star-shaped jaw that awaits
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    underneath it makes short work of the
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    tender kelp neatly scissoring it into
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    bite-sized
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    [Music]
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    pieces when urchin populations are high
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    the persistent nibbling of their armies
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    can mow down an entire kelp forest
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    within a matter of
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    months like their cousins the urchins
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    sea cucumbers have a power ful impact on
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    their
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    world these vacuum cleaners of the deep
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    Lumber across sea floors the world
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    over in the deep sea these unassuming
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    creatures make up the vast majority of
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    animals on the ocean
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    floor everywhere they go these animals
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    help themselves to a banquet hidden in
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    the
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    sand
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    specially modified tube feet
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    continuously shovel sand into their
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    mouths sand rich in organic matter which
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    they
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    digest The Leftovers are ejected in the
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    familiar
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    manner Legend has it that every grain of
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    ocean sand has at one time or another P
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    this
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    [Music]
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    way
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    brittle Stars can cover vast expanses of
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    the sea floor forming a fuzzy living
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    carpet these smallest Ain ofms often
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    make up in numbers for what they lack in
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    size but though they may appear more
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    like plants than animals their ring
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    bodies betray their true nature for
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    these are not flowers of the deep these
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    are patient predators
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    [Music]
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    they catch their prey by waving their
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    feathery arms through the water plucking
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    Plankton from the
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    current echinoderms move and feed like
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    no other animals on
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    Earth they use remarkable organs
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    completely unique in the animal kingdom
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    hydraulically powered tube
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    feet the tube feet of sea stars are
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    inflated by water drawn into the body
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    through a single opening called a Civ
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    [Music]
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    plate the water fills the five radial
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    canals which run down the length of the
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    arm arms forming a hydraulic
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    system the water is stored in little
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    muscular
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    bulbs when a bulb contracts it forces
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    water into the elastic tube foot
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    extending
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    it muscles on the foot swing it in the
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    direction the sea star wants to
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    move sea stars can move equally well in
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    any direction but they must coordinate
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    the movement of thousands of feet used
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    together they have Incredible
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    strength clustered at the tip of each
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    arm are special sensory tube feet that
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    taste the water seeking food or sensing
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    danger the tip of each arm is also
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    equipped with a light sensing organ seen
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    here as a red
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    dot this recept cannot form images but
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    it can sense light and
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    darkness although their sensory system
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    may seem simplistic compared to ours it
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    hasn't stopped the sea star from being a
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    fearsome
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    Predator the sea stars will find their
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    next meal higher up on the pilings of a
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    man-made
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    Pier a feast of
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    muscles
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    like an advancing Army the sea stars
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    move into position slowly but surely
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    working their way up toward their
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    victims the pilings provide a solid
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    surface to which whole colonies of
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    muscles
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    cling the muscles cannot run or fight
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    all they can do is hide within their
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    shells as their Killers crawl over their
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    bodies sensory tube feet sweep over the
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    tightly packed mass of shells searching
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    for any Gap in the muscle
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    defenses settling on its victim the
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    first wave of the assault begins with
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    the tube feet which use hydraulic
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    pressure to pry open any gaps in the
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    muscle
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    shell next the sea star deploys its most
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    unusual weapon its stomach
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    which moves out of its body to digest
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    its prey
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    alive once the tube feet have physically
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    breached the muscle's defensive line the
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    sea star's translucent stomach Begins
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    the final
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    assault a miniature camera tucked within
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    the muscle shell gives us the first look
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    ever at the Carnage that unfolds here
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    every
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    day
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    the animal actually pushes its stomach
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    inside the muscle shell unfolding like a
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    fatal
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    flower the stomach unleashes a volley of
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    chemical weapons digestive juices that
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    dissolve the muscle soft pink
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    flesh all that's left is a nutrient Rich
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    soup a broth that's quickly absorbed by
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    the sea
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    star
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    having assimilated the muscle the sea
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    star stomach pulls
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    away and the animal moves on leaving
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    behind an empty
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    [Music]
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    shell this is pnap podia a giant among
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    sea stars it can have more than 20 arms
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    and grow larger than a manhole cover
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    [Music]
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    it is clearly recognized by the other
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    animals in this community as a force to
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    be reckoned
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    with as pnap podia makes its way among
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    the rocks it picks up the Trail of Two
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    snails
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    realizing they are under attack the
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    snails make a run for their
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    lives finding itself in picn podia
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    clutches one snail desperately tries to
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    twist itself
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    free
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    it escapes but not for
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    long caught in pnap oia's fatal embrace
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    the snail will be swallowed
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    whole Evolution has taken many roads on
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    planet
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    Earth perhaps we shouldn't ask which
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    road is best but how each leads to a
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    unique approach to
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    life animals radically different from us
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    but no less successful at
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    surviving each in its own light is one
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    of of life's ultimate
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    survivors
Tags
  • Echinoderms
  • Sea Stars
  • Sea Urchins
  • Sea Cucumbers
  • Marine Biology
  • Evolution
  • Hydraulic Tube Feet
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Ocean Life
  • Biodiversity