Biologists Matt Gibson, Ahmet Karabulut and colleagues, have revealed the complex architecture of the tiny creature’s needlelike weapons, via Live-animal images and 3-D computer reconstructions. Like a harpoon festooned with venomous barbs, the stinger rapidly transforms as it fires.

Figure 1. Architecture of the tiny creature’s needlelike weapons.

Figure 1 shows that the series of computer visualizations shows a sea anemone’s stinger mechanism in action over time (left to right). A venomous thread (pink) starts out coiled around a central shaft (blue). Connectors (yellow) link different parts of the apparatus together, and tiny barbs (green) speckle the thread. [3]

Scientists can now see in exquisite detail “what this apparatus looks like before, during and after firing,” says Gibson. [1]

The starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) can reside in salty lagoons or shallow estuaries, the place freshwater rivers meet the ocean. Its tubular physique burrows into the mud, and a crown of Medusa-like tentacles reaches up into the water. Every tentacle is packing warmth: tons of stingers that may imply demise for brine shrimp or free-floating plankton.

These stingers are among the many quickest micromachines in nature. An anemone can jab a predator or nab some lunch in a few hundredth of a second, says Karabulut. Scientists had a concept of how such stingers labored, however till now, had by no means gotten so up shut and private.

The researchers used fluorescent dye to see the stingers in motion and scanning electron microscopy to reconstruct their three-dimensional construction. The work reveals the exact, step-by-step mechanics of the speedy shooters. [2]

Packed inside a stinger’s capsule, a venomous thread coils around a central shaft. When triggered, the shaft explodes out of the pressurized capsule and extends, turning itself inside out like a sock. Finally, the thread races up through the shaft, sending its barbs into an animal’s soft tissue.

Each stinger is good for just one shot. “It’s a one-hit wonder,” Karabulut says. “Once Nematstella uses it, it’s gone.” [3]

References:

1. https://zbtnews.in/07/2022/heres-how-sea-anemones-launch-their-venomous-stingers/
2. https://dimkts.com/heres-how-sea-anemones-launch-their-venomous-stingers/
3. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sea-anemone-venomous-stinger-launch-prey?utm_source=headtopics&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=2022-07-05

Cite this article:

Sri Vasagi K (2022), New Clear Structure of the Sea Anemones Launching Stringers, AnaTechMaz, pp.120