January 2008 Archives

• Why does the ascidian heartbeat reverse?


• Will flukes mate with their clones?


• Is the "water" in the water vascular system isosmotic with seawater?


• How similar is the hemoglobin of holothuroids and ophiuroids?


• Why do morula cells take up heavy metals?

When I'm TAing, I sit in lecture and jot down questions like these. Some are asked by students, some occur to me as I listen, and some are brought up by the professor. None are answered satisfactorily in class. Later, sitting at my desk, I use them to procrastinate--sometimes spending hours chasing obscure references.

But today, I'm committed to actually getting work done. So the questions get posted here instead, with answers to come if and when I find time to look them up.

It is rife with witty, obscure conversations like this one, which will make me grin (groan?) for the rest of my life:

SP: We'd better get started. The sponges won't wait, will they, Jim?
JW: No, they get testy.
DS: That's sea urchins who get testy.
SP: Actually, flatworms are the most primitive things that get testes.

I am giggling right now with the memory of it. So awesome. See, urchin skeletons are called tests. And if you're willing to organize animals in a biased way (for the sake of argument) from primitive to advanced and go marching up the ladder, past sponges and jellies, flatworms are the first animal you'll come to that develops true gonads (testes and ovaries).