• Question: Whats the most strangest animal you've found the genes of?

    Asked by to Ben on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ben White

      Ben White answered on 23 Jun 2014:


      There’s so many… here’s a picture from my profile that shows some of the plants, animals, and microbes we’ve had scientists investigate:

      Apart from naked mole rats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHi9FvUPSdQ) one of the strangest organisms I’ve helped with is called
      Emiliania huxleyi.
      E. huxleyi is a phytoplankton (think plantkon from spongebob) that covers it’s with hard shielded plates to protect itself. Here’s a picture of what they look like: http://www.co2.ulg.ac.be/peace/objects/218-01.JPG
      They’re are particularly important when it comes to global warming, as they’re thought to have a big impact when it comes to removing C02 from our atmosphere and regulting sea temperature. They also all get together and form very pretty algal blooms… this is what one (off the coast of Plymouth) looks like by satellite:

Comments