We still don’t know what the world’s first animal looked like, but scientists say it arose roughly 700 million years ago from a soup of single-celled organisms floating in the ocean.
The multi-celled creature thrived, multiplied and evolved, at some point splitting into two distinct species.
Left, The California sea gooseberry, photographed in a laboratory, helped Northern California researchers provide key evidence that the comb jelly, not the sponge, descended from the “sister to all other animals.” Right, A tulip sponge photographed by the Doc Ricketts, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s remotely operated vehicle , at a depth of more than 2 miles near Monterey.
Previously, scientists on both sides of the debate had largely relied on the traditional technique of comparing animals’ individual genes, but the NorCal team found a way to compare their entire chromosomes. “I think it really is a rewrite-the-textbook kind of moment,” said Steven Haddock, a marine biologist at MBARI and adjunct professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz. Haddock worked on the study with Schultz, having met the ambitious young scientist at UCSC when Schultz was working on his Ph.D. in biomolecular engineering and bioinformatics.
Comb jellies, on the other hand, are complex, sporting eight rows of hair-like cilia that help them move through the ocean. The cilia reflect light, so the animals appear to pulse with electricity like drifting deep-sea marquees. And unlike sponges, comb jellies have nerve and muscle cells. Luckily, MBARI’s remotely operated vehicle , named Doc Ricketts in honor of marine biologist Ed Ricketts, who inspired the character “Doc” in John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row,” was available to Schultz’s team. The ROV can dive down 2.5 miles and has cameras and robotic arms for finding and collecting samples.
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