“The team also found that the worms’ branching is well beyond skin deep. Incredibly, every time Ramisyllis forks itself, all the internal organs divide, too: The gut, the nerves, everything splits and runs the length of the branch. This also creates a unique, muscular band or “bridge” that threads between the organs every time the critter splits. These bridges can visually demarcate Ramisyllis’ main trunk, which is pretty useful when you’re observing an animal shaped like a tumbleweed.
The farther you get away from the head, the weirder the worm gets. Aguado and her colleagues were able to closely examine the tips of the branches, which are crucial for the species’ reproduction.
When Ramisyllis decides it’s time to procreate, its abundance of wandering derrières go through a transformation. The branch ends basically convert into genitals, filling with eggs or sperm. These reproductive units (or “stolons”) grow eyes and their own brains. When mature, the stolons detach and swim away, their freshly acquired “head” and eyes steering them to mate with stolons of the opposite sex. What started as a wriggling snarl of buttholes becomes a swarm of autonomous, sex-seeking torpedoes.”
Is it not enough to simply have a hundred anuses? Must you also use them?
