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Published: 2011-10-27 21:51:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 7799; Favourites: 117; Downloads: 54
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Description
Sea tubes are very primitive animals that are spread across the whole world's oceans and are primarily free-swimming but adapted to a sessile life in multiple cases. Most species live in the photic zone. They swim by peristaltic contractions of their bodies, filtering out food particles with their mucus-covered tentacles that line the inner walls, where they are digested in special cell cavities; sea tubes don't possess a real mouth. They are usually very small animals with the biggest species reaching 1 cm. An array of calcite concretions in the front body is used for orientation, both as statoliths as well as part of a primitive eye system where the concretion casts a shadow on a lining of photoreceptors. Sea tubes reproduce through spores.The more primitive, very similarly looking water tubes don't possess muscles and are using flagellae for movement.
Mucous u-tube: U-tubes in general are a branch that adapted to a sessile life. The more primitive examples use mucus for attaching with come species having a symbiotic relationship with silicate-mineralizing bacteria that stabilize the mucous coat in exchange for a part of the nutrients the tube collects.
Eightail: The members of this group use long hind tentacles to collect food particles instead of an inner lining of short tentacles. They are more prevalent in greater depths.
Mason tube: A member of the u-tubes that mineralizes a calcite shell. Higher species have tentacles and feeding cavities on their outer wall for collecting food particles as well.
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Comments: 24
GermanoMan101 [2021-03-25 03:08:01 +0000 UTC]
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Ramul In reply to GermanoMan101 [2021-03-25 23:31:27 +0000 UTC]
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GermanoMan101 In reply to Ramul [2021-03-25 23:50:35 +0000 UTC]
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charredlief [2012-09-03 03:46:30 +0000 UTC]
id make a u-tube joke...
but then my flow would be redirected
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nibiruplanet8 [2012-01-27 17:56:09 +0000 UTC]
couldn't the Sea tubes eventually become larger by increasing the amount/density of their tenticals to eventually become the size of anemonies or other filter feeders?
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Ramul In reply to nibiruplanet8 [2012-01-28 17:27:40 +0000 UTC]
They will have to change their body structures a bit to reach larger sizes, but yes. This is an interesting idea, unless they can't stand the competition with other filter feeders, this will be turned into a sheet.
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ArgentDandelion [2011-10-30 02:39:02 +0000 UTC]
These are amazing. Indeed, believable; if you had a few citations (even if they were to sites that did not exist) I would think that they were real. They remind me of salps and placozoans.
Have you thought about submitting this to a xenobiology club?
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Sunjinjo [2011-10-28 07:14:59 +0000 UTC]
Like a cross between tunicates, jellyfish and sponges? Very nice.
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Ramul In reply to Sunjinjo [2011-10-28 21:15:27 +0000 UTC]
Coelenterates and sponges yes, but I didn't even think about tunicates while making them. Funny that you're not the only one seeing a resemblance to them.
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PeteriDish In reply to Ramul [2012-04-05 19:33:49 +0000 UTC]
Yes! the sessile ones resemble "squirts" (=tunicates)!
Wonderful work! I like simple aliens too, they are what makes the world they belong to feel more "solid" and "complete"!
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Sunjinjo In reply to Ramul [2011-10-29 10:26:36 +0000 UTC]
Their outward appearance is that of a tunicate, with the two openings and all. A swimming tunicate wouldn't need those. Heh, I think these could very well have evolved sometime.
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Ramul In reply to Sunjinjo [2011-10-29 16:05:07 +0000 UTC]
Swimming tunicates? They did evolve. [link]
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Sunjinjo In reply to Ramul [2011-10-29 16:08:36 +0000 UTC]
Ah yes, of course, salps and tadpole larvae... Completely forgot those. Have to fresh my memory up a bit.
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Saxophlutist [2011-10-28 01:46:14 +0000 UTC]
Very neat! It's nice to have simple organisms every now and then, as opposed to only doing vertebrate-analogues.
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LINCARD1000 [2011-10-28 00:12:12 +0000 UTC]
Very well thought out I have to say. I could really see some sea-dwelling micro-organisms like this actually being quite real.
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Ramul In reply to ArtOfAnrach [2011-10-28 21:16:09 +0000 UTC]
They are also one of the easiest to make.
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