Friday 6 July 2012

Polypodium hydriforme

Image: Wikimedia
Free-living stage
Cnidaria are weird. I think we all noticed that. But just think how weird it would be if one of them was a parasite!

Uh oh...

Polypodium hydriforme is a species of parasitic jelly monster in the Cnidaria phylum. It's the only species in the Polypodium genus, which is the only genus in the Polypodiidae family. There's nothing quite like it!

It isn't in fact the only parasite in Cnidaria, but it is one of the only multicellular parasites which lives INSIDE cells.

Which cells? What creature is raised to lofty heights by means of such a unique and unexpected form of suffering?

Alas! It's caviar!

Polypodium hydriforme parasitises the expensive eggs of Sturgeons and Paddlefish in the northern hemisphere. They do this while the eggs are still within the adult fish, though it's not clear how exactly they get in there.

So let's start with a larval Polypodium which has somehow managed to get itself into a fish egg that's still in the fish.

The larva is inside out. We know that members of Cnidaria are made up of just two layers of cells, an endoderm on the inside which does the digesting and an ectoderm on the outside which has the stinging cells. Polypodium is the other way round. Their inner, digesting cell layer is on the outside, facing all that yummy egg yolk.

Being Cnidaria, that one larva soon develops into a stolon, which is a whole line of individuals. These are like polyps but are still inside out, feeding on egg yolk on the outside and with tentacles and stinging cells on the inside.

Image: Wikimedia
Stolon, recently emerged from an egg
They only right themselves when their host is about to spawn, soaking up a load of egg yolk (one for the road) as they do so.

They escape when the eggs are laid, revealing themselves to be rather strange looking, freshwater polyps. They are a bit like Hydra, but with almost no stalk.

"Polypod" means many feet, which I guess refers to the four special tentacles they use for walking around and attaching to things.

It takes a little while for them to develop a mouth so in the meantime they subsist on that last gutful of yolk. Later on they can use their tentacles and nematocytes to catch tiny worms, flatworms and rotifers.

As you may or may not suspect, these adults can reproduce by fission, where they simply divide into two individuals. They also develop sex organs for yet more reproduction.

Again, it's not known how exactly their offspring infect fish eggs before they're even laid. I hope we find out soon, I can't help but think it involves something really weird!

18 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

gross, gross, gross.

Joseph JG said...

So bad it had to be said thrice!

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Joseph JG said...

Cool!

Anonymous said...

I have not seen an organism this weird for quite some time! I had a two-week break from Real Monstrosities because I was busy and it shows. Now I finally feel like at home again.

Joseph JG said...

It's incredibly weird in an incredibly weird way!

Glad to have you back!

Unknown said...

Check it out, now they are in humans via the covid vax. Look up Dr. Madej interview. Female doctor. American

Tinfoil hat said...

🤣😅😂

@3rdGrace said...

Yes, these look exactly like the tiny organisms observed (moving) under a microscope from two separate jab vials and can be seen on the Dr. Carrie Madej interview on the “Stew Peters Show” channel on Rumble.

Elisabeth said...

and now they are being injected into everyone who fell for the lie and are taking this death jab

sophiethebulldog said...

You are correct< let em laugh

sophiethebulldog said...

Yep

Janeismyname12 said...

https://www.bitchute.com/video/45rx8vafSfWS/

Janeismyname12 said...

Idk why noone else has said how weird that people paid attention to this creature 10 years ago... and now. I wonder if that was how long it took to make a graphite version...

Danni said...

I’m reading up on this now because of her

random precision said...

These, like hydra, use Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), also called matrixins, function in the extracellular environment of cells and degrade both matrix and non-matrix proteins. ... They are multi-domain proteins and their activities are regulated by tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs).

Unknown said...

Carrie Madej very likely could have been marked for assassination - the small plane she was in with one other person lost power suddenly and both were severely injured.

Unknown said...

Anti-Vaxxer says : Those so-called "fact checkers" are really going to town on Carrie Madej, calling her all kinds of derogatory names, because ALL SHE HAS COME UP WITH IS TRUE! They are attempting (as usual) to make it appear that she is causing people danger, by discouraging them to use their brains and avoid the killer shots. THEY are the liars, NOT Carrie.