Marine animal purple sock

Imagine that during a sea walk on the bottom you will encounter an abandoned sock, and even a purple color. Amazing? Still would! Especially since it may very well be one of the most mysterious animals for modern science. Inhabitants of sea and ocean waters are generally poorly understood. That is why it is very interesting to learn something new from the animal world. Let's try to understand what the sea inhabitant is - a purple sock.

Sock or blown off ball?

This miracle of nature was first discovered just over 60 years ago and, in addition to official scientific names, firmly entrenched behind itself the unnamed name "purple sock". The description of this marine animal is reduced to this characteristic: a purple color, an indefinite shape reminiscent of a tossed toe or balloon, which was blown off, with a single small hole.

The official scientific name of the sea puzzle is Xenoturbella. In nature there are animals of different sizes, the largest of which reaches half a meter in length. Because of the particularly large size, this species was identified in a separate category, calling it Xenoturbella monstrosa. On this certain characteristics of the animal called "purple sock" end, but the unusualness is just beginning.

Excess organs out?

A detailed study of this inhabitant of underwater depths seriously puzzled scientists. It turned out that the purple sock is a marine animal that does not have a brain, spine and even intestines for digesting food. The only organ available on the body of this miracle is an opening serving simultaneously for the entrance and exit of food.

Initially, scientists were able to isolate the DNA of a purple sock, which showed that it was a representative of a class of mollusks. But later it turned out that the purple sock simply copies the DNA of the food it feeds.

Proceeding from the fact that most often representatives of this species of marine animals are found in the habitats of mollusks, it can be assumed that it is they who feed the sock. But as it happens - for scientists, too, a mystery.

The fact is that the purple sock has neither teeth, nor villi to push food, nor any proboscis. Therefore, exactly how food enters the oral opening, remains also in the category of the inexplicable.

Where can you meet this miracle of nature?

Unfortunately, just swimming in the summer in the sea, such a marvel can not be found. The habitat of the creature is the Pacific Ocean. For the first time they found a purple sock in 1949. Since this animal is found infrequently, its population is very small.

The closest place to a person, in which you can find this sea animal, is the coast of California.

Sock with a high mission

Disputes of scientists on the classification of Xenoturbella reached an agreement that this animal belongs to the simplest organisms that are related to worms. The study of it continues, but one marine researchers say unequivocally - this marine animal has come down to us from the earliest stages of evolution, so that it can be called one of the oldest inhabitants on the planet.

A detailed study of purple sock will allow scientists to fill in the existing gaps in knowledge about the evolutionary process and reinforce them with a graphic example. After all, Xenoturbella, or purple sock, is an animal whose organs are yet to develop. Therefore, knowledge of this animal suggests how such vital organs as the brain, eyes, intestines, and others, without which other living organisms can not exist, were formed during evolution, and the lilac sock still manages.

In the meantime, this sea mystery is in no hurry to reveal all its secrets: scientists have never been able to see how a purple sock takes food and is freed from already digested foods.