Innovation; Just for dhw (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, December 17, 2015, 00:23 (3266 days ago) @ dhw

This is the wildest story of innovations I've ever seen. Jelly fish evolved into internal parasites and don't look at all like their ancestors:- Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-12-evidence-tool-parrots.html#jCp-http://blogs.scientificamer... upon a time, a jellyfish became a parasite, and its descendants became unrecognizable.-"Several are worms. Most are microscopic shapeless sacs. They produce spores, a behavior almost of unheard of among animals, and pass the majority of their lives freeloading inside animals.-"Taken together, they look and act an awful lot like protists - microbes that swarm in ponds, in soil, and sometimes in bloodstreams (think malaria). They were mistaken for such for over 100 years. But I'd wager 99% of protists do not have ancestors that were large, free-living animals. These do.-"And they are legion: some 2,000 species exist today. Now, thanks to a new study, we can state with more confidence than ever that they are all related to one another, and, in spite of their radically altered appearance, are indeed cnidarians -- the giant and ancient group of organisms that includes coral, jellyfish, sea pens, hydras, and sea anemones".-Comment: It is a long article, and it makes the point that the process of living evolution is very inventive. I don't know why.