Speaking of explosives, the nematocyst, or stinging cell, is one character that binds all cnidarians together. The nematocyst is "high tech cellular weaponry", the unparalleled apex of organelle specialization (Boero et al 2007), and the fastest known biological structure (Tardent, 1995). From ScienceDaily, the discharge kinetics of nematocysts in Hydra to be as short as 700 nanoseconds, creating an acceleration of up to 5,410,000 g. Take that mantis shrimp! A dramatization is above, with narration in French.
References:
1. Boero et al. 2007. Cnidarian milestones in metazoan evolution. Int Comp Bio 47:5.
2. Tardent, P. 1995. The cnidarian cnidocyte, a high-tech cellular weaponry. Bioessays
17(4): 351- 362.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
This is first in a series of five referenced articles about shared characteristics in deep-sea and shallow-water corals.
Deep-sea corals are benthic suspension feeders in the classes Anthozoa and Hydrozoa. They share the Phylum Cnidaria along with the jellyfish, sea anemones, and the siphonophores…
After Andrewsarchus, the best known mesonychians are the mesonychids... and, as we saw previously, Andrewsarchus may not be a mesonychian anyway. Mesonychids are a mostly Eocene group that originated in the Paleocene; Mesonyx, from the Middle Eocene of North America, was the first member of the…
The Wnt genes produce signalling proteins that play important roles in early development, regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and migration. It's hugely important, used in everything from early axis specification in the embryo to fine-tuning axon pathfinding in the nervous system. The…
Here's a sadly deceased female Great spotted woodpecker Picoides major I recently photographed in a private collection. She was a very unusual woodpecker. Any ideas why?
The Great spotted woodpecker has an immense range, extending from western Europe (though Ireland lucks out) all the way to Japan…
What wonderful photography and thank you so much for letting us hear the commentary in French, without some annoying voice-over ruining it!
Yeah, I like to let the French just wash over me. Reminds me of good old Jacques Cousteau- "c'est tent-a-coool"
Yeah, well the smooth French commentary aside, I know a set up when I see it - that poor bloody goby was pushed & prodded into a certian death....Save Gobies from Exploitation!!