this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 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.

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