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Originally published by Marietta Fuhrmann-Koch, Heidelberg University, on September 29, 2023   Pictured is an early planula larval stage of the sea anemone Aiptasia (cyan nuclei and green stinging cells) preying on a crustacean nauplius (green) of the copepod Tisbe sp. Credit: Ira Mägele and Ulrike Engel Were the first animals predators or filter feeders like the sponges living in today's oceans? And what role did symbiosis with algae play, as with reef-building corals? Surprising findings by a research group led by Prof. Dr. Thomas W. Holstein of Heidelberg University on the development of sea anemones suggest that a predatory lifestyle molded their evolution and had a significant impact on the origin of their nervous system . As reported in a new article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the researchers were able to show that the young life stages (larvae ) of the small sea anemone Aiptasia actively feed on living prey and are n...

Originally published by Dresden University of Technology, on August 11, 2023 A Kosmoceras ammonite fossil. A CT scan render. Credit: Robert Lemanis Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusk animals that are now an iconic fossil group often collected by amateurs. Over 350 million years of evolution , ammonoids developed increasingly elaborate shells with fractal-like geometry. For nearly 200 years, scientists have debated the reason why these animals show a trend of increasing complexity in their shell structures. Dr. Robert Lemanis and Dr. Igor Zlotnikov from the B CUBE–Center for Molecular Bioengineering at TU Dresden created mechanical simulations of theoretical and computed tomography-based models to unveil a potential explanation : the intricate architecture of these shells may have been nature's ingenious defense strategy against a wide array of predators . Their paper is published in the journal Science Advances. Read more