International research teams such as Professor Toru Miura of the Critical Laboratory attached to the Graduate School of Science, the University of Tokyo, University of Göttingen in Germany, Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain, and Niigata University have developed a new species of ring-shaped animal whose body branches off the coast of Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture. I found it.It was named "King Ghidorah Cilice" after the three-headed monster King Ghidorah that appears in the Toho movie "Godzilla Series".
According to the University of Tokyo, an international research team collected annelids that coexist with the sponge's body and branch off during a diving survey in the shallow waters off Sado Island.It had only one head, but it had many tails branching from the middle of its body.As a result of observation of morphology and internal tissue and molecular phylogenetic analysis, it was found that it is a new species of annelid cilice, which is close to worms and earthworms.
It was named King Ghidorah Cilice because it resembles a King Ghidorah with three heads where the body branches.
The cilice family breeds with the reproductive organs at the tip of the tail separated.It is thought that the reason why the body is branched is that it efficiently absorbs nutrients and reproduces in the host sponge.So far, two types of bifurcated cilices have been reported in Asia and Australia.
Since the morphology of King Ghidorah cilice is extremely strange compared to general animals, the international research team hopes that it will be possible to obtain new biological knowledge by clarifying the ecology and physiological functions.
Paper information:[Organisms Diversity & Evolution] Ramisyllis kingghidorahi n. Sp., a new branching annelid from Japan
