1351
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

the only one? what about slime molds?

[-] BossDj@lemm.ee 10 points 1 month ago
[-] wischi@programming.dev 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Honest question. How is that sponge an animal and how is "animal" defined? If we grind something through a sieve and it reassembles surely the lifeform can't be too complicated.

[-] multifariace@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Sponge are some of the most simple animals alive. Jellyfish are comparatively not too far off.

[-] wischi@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago

Thank you. But are jellyfish really not that far off. Looks like a pretty huge step to me. Jellyfish look complex enough to not just magically reassemble if we grind them through a sieve.

I personally (but I'm not a biologists 🤣) definitely would consider a jellyfish an animal because different cells (at least ot very much looks like that) have different functions and thus throwing it in the meat grinder (even if individual cells are not damaged) I can't imagine how ot could reassemble itself.

But a sponge seems so homogeneous it (I guess) almost doesn't matter what goes where and that's why it can reassemble. That why (I personally) wouldn't think of that as an animal.

Are there other things that are technically animals that are that homogeneous?

[-] multifariace@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Little pieces of a jellyfish can become new jellyfish. They can reproduce sexually or asexually. The Immortal Jellyfish is even weirder. They are some of the simplest multicellular animals after sponge and coral.

[-] RedAggroBest@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Animals are members of kingdom Animalia. One of the unify features of this kingdom is multicellularity. Slime molds are members of the mostly-single-celled protists and they themselves are some of the most complex single celled organisms. Sponges, being very basal animals, are one of the phyla that retains a high degree of regenerative ability that simplicity facilitates while being very much a multicellular organism with all the organization that comes with.

[-] wischi@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
1351 points (99.5% liked)

Science Memes

15460 readers
2252 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS