Sea cucumbers harbor ‘zombie’ tissues that won’t die

Cut from the animal and left in seawater, the tissues absorbed nutrients and survived

A young scarlet sea cucumber, about 5 millimeters long, uses its tentacles to feed. While sea cucumbers can naturally shed and regenerate these tentacles, researchers have also found that detached tentacle tissue can remain alive independently after being separated from the organism.

Sara Jobson/Mercier Lab/MUN

This is a human-written story voiced by AI.