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Teach a Man to fish- Where’d My Fish Go?

*Salps are basically gelatinous sea animals related to us vertebrates, but with no bones. They just have a notochord, or “brain stem” similar to what BECOMES our spine later in fetal development.

Anatomy like theirs is older than fish, almost as old as animal life itself.

Other species in their group lose the notochord and become sea squirts. This includes these guys who also went around tumblr:

Some salps during certain portions of their life cycle form a growing chain of clones:

Michael Zeigler photographed this mer-dog looking as confused as we are by its ancient distant cousin.