WEBVTT - Why Is a Brain-Shaped Blob In Canada?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>this is Christian Seger. Lagoons are famous for creepy swamp creatures,

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<v Speaker 1>but in a Canadian park in Vancouver, British Columbia, scientists

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<v Speaker 1>have found something possibly just as outlandish, A slimy, gelatinous

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<v Speaker 1>brain blob. Well, okay, it's not really a brain, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's not really even an it. It's a collection of

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<v Speaker 1>tiny creatures. Collectively called a magnificent brio zoan, or also

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<v Speaker 1>known by its Latin name as Pectinatella magnifica. This colony

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<v Speaker 1>forms a brain shaped mass that can grow to be

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<v Speaker 1>larger than a human head. And I think we can

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<v Speaker 1>all agree that's also really weird, now, Brian Zowan's. Sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>they're also called moss animals. They're an ancient group of

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<v Speaker 1>filter feeders. The earliest fossil evidence of one of these

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<v Speaker 1>colonies can be dated back about four hundred and seventy

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<v Speaker 1>million years. Individually, each tiny invertebrate, called a zooid, can

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<v Speaker 1>just barely be seen with the naked eye. It's only

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<v Speaker 1>about half a millimeter or about point zero two inches long,

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<v Speaker 1>but when hundreds of them assemble, they can glue themselves

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<v Speaker 1>together with a special protein to form all sorts of shapes, sheets, columns,

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<v Speaker 1>and even branched tree like structures. Now actually fossilized. Briozoans

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<v Speaker 1>are among the world's most abundant fossils as well, and

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<v Speaker 1>you can find them in rocks originating more than four

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty million years ago up until the present.

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<v Speaker 1>Their colonies start with a single zooid, which a sexually

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<v Speaker 1>reproduces until it's got an entire army of clones to

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<v Speaker 1>hang out with. Most briozoan species live in marine habitats,

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<v Speaker 1>but the one found in Vancouver's Stanley Park belongs in freshwater.

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<v Speaker 1>It just doesn't really belong in Vancouver, Canada. This August,

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<v Speaker 1>the Stanley Park Ecology Society held its annual bio Blitz,

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<v Speaker 1>a community event in which citizens scientists survey the park,

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<v Speaker 1>identifying hundreds of organisms in twenty four hours. In the

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<v Speaker 1>Lost Lagoon, which is the park's biofiltration pond, Blitz goers

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<v Speaker 1>discovered the giant, slimy football shaped brio Zonan, thousands of

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<v Speaker 1>miles from home. Their usual range is decidedly to the

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<v Speaker 1>south of Canada and east of the Mississippi River, and

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<v Speaker 1>it turns out This isn't the first time a magnificent

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<v Speaker 1>Brian zone has been found in this part of Canada,

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<v Speaker 1>and nobody can tell whether they're staying either, but why

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<v Speaker 1>they're there is a different question. Like with most migrating

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<v Speaker 1>organisms these days, warming global tem pictures might have opened

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<v Speaker 1>the door of the Great White North to these probably

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<v Speaker 1>ecologically harmless blobs. They need a water temperature warmer than

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<v Speaker 1>sixty degrees fahrenheit or sixteen degrees celsius in order to

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<v Speaker 1>make a go of it. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>Jescelyn Shields, produced by Dylan Fagan, and for more on

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<v Speaker 1>this and other topics, please visit us at how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com.