The first scientists to describe Daphnia thought they were a kind of flea because they assumed the red color came from sucking blood as fleas do. It turns out they’re not bloodsuckers – they’re blood makers. Daphnia have genes that make hemoglobin, so when the animal is stressed out, those genes switch on and the animal looks red.
In fact Daphnia have an astonishingly large number of genes. “We count more than 31,000 genes,” says [John] Colbourne. By comparison, the human genome has more like 23,000 genes. If Guinness tracks such things, Daphnia would hold the record for the most genes of any animal studied to date.
“Many of those genes – we estimate around 35 percent of them – are brand new to science,”
Daphnia can grow its own spear and helmet when threatened by an attacker
Related: Our Genome Changes as We Age – Amazing Designs of Life – One Species’ Genome Discovered Inside Another Species – Bdelloid Rotifers Abandoned Sex 100 Million Years Ago
That creature wasn’t very efficiently coded then 🙂
I never imagined that such a small creature could contain such a large number of genes. Wow! I believe that Maize is also another relatively simple-looking species that also contains more genes than we do (over 30,000 genes). But anyways, great blog.
That creature wasn’t very efficiently coded then
Wow I can’t believe when it’s stressed out the genes switch on and it looks red. Things like this are so amazing. Great post