1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 3 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 2: is Robert Lamb. 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 3: And I am Joe McCormick, and we have. 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 2: A special holiday episode here for you today. It does 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,800 Speaker 2: concern Christmas trees of a sort. We have, of course 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 2: talked about Christmas trees plenty of times on Stuff to 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,559 Speaker 2: Blow Your Mind in the past. I think the most 9 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 2: recent installment being an episode we did a couple of 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 2: years back, holiday inventions, Christmas tree lights, tinsel and angels. 11 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 2: We've talked about Christmas trees and connection to sacred trees 12 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 2: in the past, but today we're going to find our 13 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,480 Speaker 2: Christmas trees in an all new location. We are going 14 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 2: to venture beneath the sea. 15 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 3: That's right, it's mule tied in the deep today. 16 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 2: Yes, deep down in the ocean in some cases, deep 17 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 2: in the ocean where it's that Cuthulhu waits dreaming. But 18 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:05,039 Speaker 2: just maybe maybe he's dreaming of a white Christmas. 19 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 3: He's dreaming of that red writer be begun. 20 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, so that'd we come around to Christmas trees under 21 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,960 Speaker 2: the sea. Well, credit where credits due. We had a 22 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 2: couple of lead INDs to this one of the organisms 23 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 2: we're going to cover here is one that was already 24 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 2: on your radar and is also something that I've observed 25 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:29,040 Speaker 2: in the wild before. And then another source of inspiration 26 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 2: was a twenty twenty one j Store Daily article by 27 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 2: Sierra Garcia titled Meet the Christmas Tree Doppelgangers of the Sea. Now, 28 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 2: obviously with a title like that, you know I'm going 29 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 2: to give the post a second look. 30 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 3: You know. 31 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 2: Doppelganger, of course, being the German double walker, the uncanny, 32 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 2: sinister and perhaps doom harboragering duplication of self. Christmas, with 33 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 2: its hidden depths of darkness, seems a great place for 34 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 2: such creatures to wander around. But of course it's not 35 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 2: about actual doppelgangers. It's about things in the ocean that 36 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 2: may or may not resemble Christmas trees, depending on how 37 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 2: much you want to see Christmas in them. 38 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 3: You know, my daughter is two years old now, and 39 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 3: so this is going to be her first, her first 40 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 3: really conscious Christmas, the one that I think she's really 41 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 3: going to be very aware of. And of course at 42 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 3: her age, I'm constantly thinking about like the recognition of objects, 43 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 3: because she likes to point to things and either ask 44 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 3: what's that or to say what the thing she's pointing 45 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:31,640 Speaker 3: at is, And a lot of times it's not the 46 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 3: thing she says it is, but you can see the resemblance. 47 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 3: And so I'm constantly thinking about the minimum visual criteria 48 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 3: to associate a shape or some kind of sight with 49 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 3: an object or a concept that she already has. And 50 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 3: one of them now is Christmas trees. And so like, 51 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 3: I'm wondering what kind of triangular thing this week, you know, 52 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 3: she'll point out is that Christmas tree? And we're sort 53 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 3: of playing the same game now, aren't we. 54 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean you've got to call these organisms something, right, 55 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 2: We've encountered examples of this before. You know, everything is 56 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 2: an apple, according to Western explorers, some version of an apple, 57 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 2: be it pine or otherwise. But you know, on another level, 58 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:13,920 Speaker 2: all of this kind of connects with the ancient notion 59 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 2: that we've discussed in the show before, the idea that 60 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 2: if you look into the water, if you gaze deep 61 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 2: into it, you're going to inevitably fine twins of things 62 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 2: that exist above the water. You're going to find lions 63 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 2: of the sea, cows of the sea, and so much 64 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 2: more so. Maybe it's not all that off the mark anyway, 65 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 2: that there are doppelgangers Christmas tree doppelgangers in the deep, 66 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 2: because we have Christmas trees up here, so they must 67 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 2: exist in the mirror realm beneath the waves. 68 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 3: That's right. Well, are you ready to kick things off 69 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 3: with my example here? 70 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, this is a fun one. This is probably 71 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 2: the one that's instantly coming to some folks mind out there, 72 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 2: especially folks who have done a little snorkeling and scuba diving. 73 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 3: Well, we're going to start in the place you might 74 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 3: expect for undersea Christmas trees, and that is James Cameron's 75 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 3: Avatar from two thousand and nine. I know, I was 76 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 3: actually so reading an article about this that was linked 77 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 3: in that Jay Store Daily you mentioned earlier. But this 78 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 3: was a short article that was mainly just promoing a 79 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 3: conference presentation, but it had some interesting behind the scenes 80 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 3: details about the making of Avatar. Who was called of 81 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 3: plants in film by Tanya Marion in The Botanical Artist 82 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 3: twenty fifteen. And so I was talking about when Cameron 83 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,359 Speaker 3: was setting out to design the world of Avatar, he 84 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 3: wanted to achieve some degree of biological plausibility, and the 85 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 3: movie is set on a planet. Actually, I think it's 86 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,359 Speaker 3: supposed to be a moon called Pandora, which he was 87 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 3: originally imagining as a place with low light conditions and 88 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 3: a toxic atmosphere, so it would have kind of different 89 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 3: different material pressures applying to the biosphere, maybe leading to 90 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 3: different forms of life than we have here on Earth. 91 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 3: And so in trying to dream up these life forms, 92 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 3: he consulted with a plant physiologist from u SE Riverside 93 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 3: named Jody Holt to help imagine the botany of the 94 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 3: alien biosphere. It's kind of interesting how the plants they 95 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 3: dreamed up in some way resemble life forms that are 96 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:21,599 Speaker 3: found not on the surface of Earth, but underneath Earth's oceans. 97 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 3: So the movie features in some scenes a type of 98 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 3: large ground flora I think within the sort of in 99 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 3: universe lore. It's they call it like a zoo botanical 100 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 3: or something like that. It's sort of like an animal 101 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 3: plant combination. But whatever it is, it basically seems plant formed. 102 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,679 Speaker 3: It's a piece of large ground flora with spiral shaped 103 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 3: foliage and in the universe of the movie it's called 104 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,919 Speaker 3: helicoradium spirally And in the movie we see that this 105 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 3: plant has an unusual reaction to activity in its environment. 106 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 3: When it is physically disturbed. These fan out, corkscrew shaped 107 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,919 Speaker 3: leaves rapidly recoil and fold up into almost nothingness. So 108 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 3: you can be standing in the middle of a little 109 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 3: grove of these things and suddenly they all fold up 110 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 3: and you can see everything around you. It's a touch 111 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 3: me not reflex. 112 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 2: Very impressive effects in play here, particularly nice on the 113 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 2: big screen and in three D. You know, say what 114 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:24,480 Speaker 2: you will about the Avatar films, but there's a lot 115 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,680 Speaker 2: of fantastic biological world building going on in them. And yeah, 116 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,720 Speaker 2: this is a great example of one of the organisms 117 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 2: that Cameron unleashes on us. 118 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:37,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, And so it turns out this was one of 119 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 3: the biological elements of the movie that was inspired by 120 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 3: organisms that actually exist in nature, not so much a plant, 121 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 3: but by an animal, the real animal called Spirobranchus giganteus, 122 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 3: or the Christmas tree worm. And that's the animal that 123 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 3: I want to talk about for a minute here. So 124 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 3: first of all, your mind, if it works like mine, 125 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 3: might be looking in the wrong direction here, because when 126 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 3: I hear Christmas tree worm, for some reason, to me, 127 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,839 Speaker 3: it sounds like the name of a pest animal that 128 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 3: is named after the crop that it is most notorious 129 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 3: for infesting and consuming, So like the tobacco hornworm or 130 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 3: the potato tuber worm. These are in reality both moth 131 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 3: species that in their larval stages feed on night shade 132 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 3: plants like the ones in their names, and other night 133 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 3: shade plants as well. But you know, humans kind of 134 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 3: have a sometimes a kind of economic agricultural mindset in 135 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 3: interfacing with wildlife, so they can sort of name animals 136 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,040 Speaker 3: after the crop that that animal is causing them problems with. 137 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like Christmas tree worms have ravaged the harvest again, 138 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 2: is going to be a tough winner exactly. 139 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 3: But the Christmas tree worm is not a caterpillar that 140 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 3: infests Christmas tree farms. Instead, it is a marine tubeworm 141 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 3: that lives on the surface of coral reefs. And so 142 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 3: what's the association. Well, these animals are named after Christmas 143 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 3: trees because they look like Christmas trees. And yet sometimes 144 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 3: these naming conventions are a bit of a stretch, But 145 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 3: for my part, I think it's close enough. I think 146 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 3: these worms really do kind of remind me of Christmas trees. 147 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 3: Though I will qualify that, and my qualification is that 148 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 3: it's not so much that they resemble the actual species 149 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 3: of evergreens, which are usually fir trees that we use 150 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 3: as Christmas decorations. The only way in which I'd say 151 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 3: they actually evoke the trees themselves is in general shape. 152 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 3: So like Christmas trees, the part of these worms you 153 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 3: can see is a cone which is widest at the 154 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 3: base and the narrows towards the top, and it does 155 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 3: sort of have branches branches radiating for my central trunk 156 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 3: or spine. They're also sort of needly needly branches, which 157 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 3: you could compare to evergreen pine needle texture, but it's 158 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 3: not exactly a perfect match when you look at it. Instead, 159 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 3: I think the main way that they remind me and 160 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 3: remind other people of Christmas trees is that they mimic 161 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 3: a popular style of Christmas tree decoration, especially from years past, 162 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,439 Speaker 3: which is that you would have a string of lights 163 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 3: or a brightly colored garland wrapped around the tree in 164 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 3: a spiral pattern. I've got a couple of examples for 165 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 3: you to look at here, Rob. I don't really know 166 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 3: that much about historical patterns of Christmas tree decoration, but 167 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 3: this reads to me as a more old style way 168 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 3: of decorating a Christmas tree. I associate it with like 169 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 3: the nineteen thirties or forties. 170 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And I guess maybe some of this survived. 171 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm looking at this. I'm not sure 172 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 2: when this style of tree decoration dies out or then 173 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 2: again resurges again. For that matter, I'm not sure where 174 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,319 Speaker 2: we are now. We don't put a tremendous amount of 175 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 2: thought into it. We just throw up the tree and 176 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 2: we put our favorite decorations up and call it a day. 177 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah. My family never had a spiral garland on 178 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 3: our trees, so it's not something I remember from personal experience. 179 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,160 Speaker 3: I feel like I've seen it in older media, which 180 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 3: is maybe why I think of it as something that's older. 181 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:14,680 Speaker 2: We might have had a spiral garland, or maybe my 182 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 2: grandmother did. I don't remember, but it feels like something 183 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,080 Speaker 2: I've seen in my life done somewhere. Hard to get 184 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 2: excited about the garland, though, especially as a kid, because 185 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:26,319 Speaker 2: it's the individual ornaments and the lights that have all 186 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 2: of the personality. 187 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 3: I think, especially for people with brains like yours and mind. 188 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 3: I think you and I were both like the illustrated 189 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,320 Speaker 3: dictionary kind of kids. We like things with lots of 190 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 3: little individual in trees with the little illustration and explanation, 191 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 3: And that's kind of what the individual ornaments feel like 192 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 3: to me. I like individual ornaments with personality. 193 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think that's a good way opening it. 194 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 3: But coming back to the Christmas tree worm, So if 195 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 3: you do a search for pictures of this worm, you 196 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 3: will find plenty of stunning underwater photos of coral reef 197 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 3: surfaces speckled with multi colored pairs of spiral Christmas trees, 198 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 3: each pair branching in a fork. So what you'll see 199 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 3: are two little Christmas trees right beside one another with 200 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 3: the same coloration. Now, each pair has a different coloration 201 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 3: from the other ones around it, but within the pair, 202 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 3: the two little trees next to each other that are 203 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 3: growing in a V shape split at the base, those 204 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:27,280 Speaker 3: will be the same color usually. And one important thing 205 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 3: to emphasize is that the Christmas trees that you're seeing 206 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 3: are not the whole of the organism. Each pair of 207 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 3: Christmas trees represents the two crowns, or feeding and breathing 208 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 3: appendages of a worm, the main cylindrical body of which 209 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 3: is hidden in a tube in the coral right beneath 210 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:50,679 Speaker 3: where the trees emerge. And whether or not you think 211 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 3: they look like Christmas trees, these things are beautiful. I 212 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 3: know they're especially popular as a site for like scuba 213 00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:58,319 Speaker 3: divers and snorkelers. 214 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, I've got to observe these in the wild before 215 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,319 Speaker 2: snorkeling and Belize and in Roatan. They're one of the 216 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 2: smaller pleasures of snorkeling in the shallows, and honestly, that's 217 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 2: that's what I'm all about. When it comes to snorkeling. 218 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 2: I don't really I don't really want to see anything big, 219 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,560 Speaker 2: you know, unless it's like a big coral formation. I mean, 220 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 2: I see a bigger fish, it's it's neat. But I 221 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 2: often spend my time with looking around for those little details, 222 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 2: things that are you know, curling about inside the reefs 223 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 2: and the rocks and and and you know, I think 224 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:33,079 Speaker 2: that's one of the things that makes something like a 225 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:37,600 Speaker 2: Christmas tree worm special. Now, in terms of whether they 226 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 2: look like Christmas trees, I don't know. Obviously, It's one 227 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 2: of those things where I knew what they were called, 228 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 2: but as they were pointed out to me, so I 229 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 2: couldn't help but bring Christmas tree into the scenario. But 230 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 2: the ones I remember looking at I tended to think 231 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:53,439 Speaker 2: more of like bristle cleaner for straws and tubes. 232 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 3: You know, but gorgeously decorated. 233 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, like I don't remember them being the one I saw, 234 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:02,959 Speaker 2: mind you as colorful as the ones I see in 235 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 2: some of these photos. But on the other hand, underwater 236 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,120 Speaker 2: photography is very much a lighting game. I mean, I 237 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:11,079 Speaker 2: guess all photography is a lighting game, and you know 238 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 2: what you actually see with your own eyes and maybe 239 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,480 Speaker 2: less than optimal lighting conditions in the water. You know, 240 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 2: they're not going to necessarily match up with what you see, 241 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 2: you know, in somebody's showcase of underwater photography. But yeah, 242 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 2: they still they do have a lot of character, you know, 243 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 2: there's something sneaky and whimsical about them. A lot of 244 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:31,839 Speaker 2: the things in the water don't want to be seen 245 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 2: and will do what they can passively or actively to 246 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:37,560 Speaker 2: avoid a clumsy human and a mask and a snorkel 247 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 2: from seeing them. But Christmas tree worms tend to feel 248 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 2: just a little extra cheeky in the way they hide 249 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:44,319 Speaker 2: from us. 250 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:46,679 Speaker 3: Like they're not just hiding from you, they're almost kind 251 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,840 Speaker 3: of playing peekaboo, maybe playing yeah hard to get Yeah. 252 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:51,679 Speaker 2: There is like a peekaboo feel to them, you. 253 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 3: Know, yeah, yeah, you know. I was reading some guides 254 00:13:55,240 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 3: to marine life and coral reef life that we're talking 255 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,560 Speaker 3: about people who try to get photos of these things, 256 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 3: and apparently there's somewhat They're sensitive to multiple things, including 257 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,679 Speaker 3: changes in light conditions. So maybe if a shadow falls 258 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:11,559 Speaker 3: under them, they could retract, or if the flash of 259 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 3: a camera goes off, they could retract, and then slowly 260 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 3: over time, after they retract, they'll sort of re emerge. 261 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 3: And so I think there might be some patience involved 262 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 3: in trying to get up close and see them or 263 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 3: to take a good photo of them, to kind of 264 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 3: wait for them to come back out after you have 265 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 3: spooked them the first time. But then another thing I 266 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 3: saw in one of the sources I was reading was 267 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 3: that how skittish they are might well depend on their surroundings. 268 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 3: Like the ones that are in shallower, more turbulent waters, 269 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 3: I think tend to be a little less skittish than 270 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 3: the ones that are in deeper, more calm and stable waters, 271 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:54,080 Speaker 3: which sort of makes sense. Yeah, but anyway, Okay, so 272 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 3: what's the biological rundown on the Christmas tree worm. It 273 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 3: is a relative small polychete worm that lives the entirety 274 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,040 Speaker 3: of its adult life with the majority of its body 275 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 3: hidden inside a calcareous tube that it makes initially on 276 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:15,440 Speaker 3: the surface of a rock or more often a coral reef, 277 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,680 Speaker 3: and then the tube can kind of become subsumed within 278 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 3: the coral as the coral grows, and then the worm 279 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 3: and its tube grows up along with the coral, so 280 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 3: it begins life in a short planktonic larval phase, floating around, 281 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 3: after which it lands somewhere on the reef secretes a 282 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 3: tube made of mucus, which it lives in for a bit, 283 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 3: and over time that mucous tube becomes cemented with solid minerals, 284 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 3: and then within that tube, the Christmas tree worm metamorphoses 285 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 3: and grows into its adult form, where it will live 286 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,000 Speaker 3: the rest of its life, growing with the structure of 287 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 3: the reef, safe and secure and covered inside its tube 288 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 3: by a nice lubricating blanket of mucus. I've seen different 289 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:07,359 Speaker 3: estimates on size range. According to a post by the NOAA, 290 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 3: on average, these worms are less than four centimeters long, 291 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 3: but according to marine biologists Eugene Kaplan in his book 292 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 3: A Field Guide to Coral Reefs from nineteen ninety nine. 293 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 3: Their body length can reach up to twelve centimeters or 294 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 3: about five inches either way. They are small, but they're 295 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 3: easy to spot because they're very colorful, and in some 296 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 3: cases because of rapid changes that you can observe with them, 297 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:36,480 Speaker 3: most often them disappearing suddenly. So the exposed parts the 298 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 3: two Christmas trees are two tentacles or crowns, and I've 299 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:46,119 Speaker 3: also seen them called gill plumes, arranged in a spiral 300 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 3: or whirl pattern, which themselves contain what's called a bipinnate 301 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:56,479 Speaker 3: arrangement of hair like or needle like protrusions called radioles. 302 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 3: And then those little needle protrusions are themselves perpendicularly covered 303 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 3: in other smaller protrusions called pinules or cilia. So you 304 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 3: can imagine a kind of fern shape. You know, you 305 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 3: have the main stalk going out, and then you have 306 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:13,680 Speaker 3: branches going out from that stalk, and then out from 307 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 3: the branches you got the little leaves projecting at a 308 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 3: ninety degree angle. So these radioles covered in the cilia, 309 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 3: the worm fans them out in this spiral pattern and 310 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 3: then beats them in the water to catch floating phytoplankton 311 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 3: and other bits of biological particle matter that will become 312 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 3: the worm's food. The little pins sort of they catch 313 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 3: hold of bits of organic stuff suspended in the water, 314 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,639 Speaker 3: and then they sort of transport those particles in a 315 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:46,240 Speaker 3: stream in little ridges along the surface of the worlds 316 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 3: down to the worm's mouth. Delicious. So imagine kind of 317 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 3: a spiral Christmas tree that gradually sucks in all of 318 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:57,880 Speaker 3: its ornaments, sucks the ornaments down the branches and then 319 00:17:57,960 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 3: down the trunk and eats them. 320 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 2: I mean, it sometimes works like that if you have 321 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:03,880 Speaker 2: a cat and Christmas tree. 322 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 3: Now, these structures are not only for filter feeding, they're 323 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,679 Speaker 3: also for breathing. They are the worm's gills, and so 324 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:15,680 Speaker 3: the worm uses these radioals to extract dissolved oxygen from 325 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:20,160 Speaker 3: the water. Now, the activity that makes the Christmas tree 326 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 3: worm notable as an inspiration for the plants in Avatar 327 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 3: is the touch me not reflex. You know, when it 328 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 3: senses danger through multiple types of stimuli, it can rapidly 329 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 3: retract its two Christmas trees into the hole where it 330 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 3: lives and on top of that it can also shut 331 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 3: the door behind it. It has a flat body structure, 332 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:46,560 Speaker 3: sometimes capped with some sort of horny surface called an operculum, 333 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:50,160 Speaker 3: which it can slam shut over the opening of its tube. 334 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 3: And we've talked about this adaptation the operculum in other species, 335 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 3: such as snails. Snails sometimes have an operculum that they 336 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 3: can use to cover the opening of their shell. Serves 337 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:02,919 Speaker 3: the same purpose, but of course, in the case of 338 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,399 Speaker 3: a snail, the shell is mobile. Here we'd be talking 339 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 3: about a stationary tube on a substrate for a sedentary organism. 340 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,880 Speaker 3: We also talked about it in our episodes on hermit crabs, 341 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 3: because in some cases the hermit crab will have one 342 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,239 Speaker 3: claw that is so made that it functions as an 343 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 3: operculum at the opening of the shell. 344 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 2: That's right, It's perfect little lid for their shell. 345 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 3: That's right. So the operculum is a biological adaptation for 346 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:34,920 Speaker 3: slamming the door shut. Now, I wanted to shout out 347 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 3: an interesting sort of ecological fact that I became aware 348 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:42,200 Speaker 3: of because I saw it in a PBS Nova segment, 349 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,640 Speaker 3: So thank you Nova. But the interesting thing is that 350 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 3: there is some evidence that the relationship between the Christmas 351 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 3: tree worm and the coral reef on which it lives 352 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,280 Speaker 3: goes both ways. Now, of course you can see how 353 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 3: the worm benefits. The worm benefits from the coral skeleton structure, 354 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,639 Speaker 3: which of course provides it, you know, rigid protection against 355 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 3: against predators, and you know, the tube it can live in, 356 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:10,400 Speaker 3: but also as it grows, it lifts it up into 357 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 3: the water where it can have access to better waters 358 00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:17,480 Speaker 3: for filter feeding. But the coral itself may also benefit 359 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:21,200 Speaker 3: from having Christmas tree worms all over it, because apparently 360 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,159 Speaker 3: the Christmas tree worms can provide a kind of protection 361 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 3: for the coral against one of the coral's major predators. 362 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:34,200 Speaker 3: And that predator is the crown of thorns starfish aka 363 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 3: Acanthaster plantsy or plunky p l A n c I. 364 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 3: But I'll just say crown of thorns starfish because boy 365 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 3: is the the epicness of that name appropriate. So imagine 366 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 3: kind of a cross between a giant sunflower and an 367 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 3: iron maiden turned inside out. These things are are absolutely 368 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:59,919 Speaker 3: from the hell razor universe, extremely wicked. They might. They're large, 369 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 3: they might be roughly a foot and a half in 370 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 3: diameter on average, coated in spikes, and what they do 371 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 3: is they crawl over the surface of the coral reef 372 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,399 Speaker 3: just mowing. There's mowing the lawn, eating everything they can. 373 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 3: According to that Nova segment, these giant starfish are in 374 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 3: part responsible for the major decline of living coral within 375 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 3: the Great Barrier reef. There are other factors at work 376 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 3: as well, but when these things get going, a sort 377 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,840 Speaker 3: of explosion in the population of these coral predators can 378 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,679 Speaker 3: clean out a reef of living corals. And so the 379 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 3: whole ventral surface, the underside of the starfish you can 380 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,720 Speaker 3: kind of think of as a vast digestive organ complex 381 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:48,920 Speaker 3: containing tube feet and this inverted stomach inside out stomach system. 382 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,600 Speaker 3: So it's just the underside of it is foreat it 383 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 3: is just going to devour the coral underneath. And it 384 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,080 Speaker 3: turns out there's some evidence that if it comes to 385 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 3: a part of a coral reef where there are Christmas 386 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 3: tree worms, the Christmas tree worms can protect the corals 387 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:10,439 Speaker 3: directly underneath them because they get in the way of 388 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 3: the starfish feeding and in fact they irritate the starfish's 389 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,119 Speaker 3: feeding organs. I looked up a paper, so I was 390 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,439 Speaker 3: trying to find the paper that was the source of 391 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 3: this observation, and I found one published in the Marine 392 00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:27,560 Speaker 3: Ecology Progress Series from nineteen eighty six by Devantier at 393 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:32,880 Speaker 3: All called does spiro Bronchus gigantius protect host porities from 394 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 3: predation by acinhaster planky predator pressure as a mechanism of coevolution? 395 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:40,840 Speaker 3: And I was looking for the part of the paper 396 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,159 Speaker 3: that describes exactly how this works. I found it in 397 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 3: their results section where they say, quote preliminary field experiments 398 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 3: indicate that for certain worms, contact by acinhaster planky induces 399 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 3: retraction followed by almost immediate reappearance with the operculum and 400 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:03,040 Speaker 3: bronchial crown pushing against the tube, feet and arms of 401 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:07,040 Speaker 3: the starfish. This caused the predator to move quickly away. 402 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,680 Speaker 3: So something about what these worms like poking it at 403 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:14,359 Speaker 3: their tube feed and the averted stomach. The starfish do 404 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,840 Speaker 3: not like the worms messing with them, and so this 405 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,719 Speaker 3: can have the effect of protecting the corals that are 406 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:24,960 Speaker 3: situated right around where the worms are. And so it's 407 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 3: not going to protect the reef totally from being mowed 408 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:32,920 Speaker 3: by the starfish, but what it can do is make 409 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,439 Speaker 3: sure that some corals are left alive on the reef, 410 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 3: and that those corals left alive around the worms, protected 411 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,160 Speaker 3: by the worms, can reseed the rest of the reef 412 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:45,400 Speaker 3: structure with living coral once again. 413 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 2: M fascinating. So they're holding down their turf, which could 414 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:57,359 Speaker 2: allow the overall reef to then grow and heal later. Yes, fascinating. 415 00:23:57,960 --> 00:23:59,439 Speaker 3: So I don't know, we've been thinking about trees a 416 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 3: lot lately. Z apotropaic magic? Is there something here protective 417 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,520 Speaker 3: kind of? You know, the coral reef's got its own 418 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:08,119 Speaker 3: protective amulet, Except I guess it's not magic. It's just 419 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 3: like literally keeping the starfish from absolutely devouring every inch 420 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 3: of its life. 421 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 2: It would be like if your Christmas tree protected your 422 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 2: house by coming alive in the night, yeah, and fighting 423 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 2: you know, weird alpine demons that might venture into your home. 424 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,439 Speaker 3: Yeah, It's like if aliens wanted to come over your 425 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 3: house and suck all of the people out of it. 426 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 3: If the Christmas tree that you had like poked the 427 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 3: alien ship and irritated it and made it go away. 428 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 2: There you go. 429 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,719 Speaker 3: So that does it for Christmas tree worms. But I 430 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 3: know we had some other organisms we were going to 431 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 3: talk about. 432 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 2: That's right, This next one is one that I learned 433 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,400 Speaker 2: about in that Jaystore Daily post that I referenced earlier, 434 00:24:57,760 --> 00:24:59,919 Speaker 2: and it's very much still in the world of coral. 435 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:04,640 Speaker 2: Christmas Tree coral, a cold water black coral discovered apparently 436 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 2: in the mid two thousands. Some of you may be wondering, 437 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,640 Speaker 2: what is a black coral? Like, what does this even mean? Okay, well, 438 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,160 Speaker 2: you know a reminder that generally, you know, corals, of course, 439 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 2: are animals, like we've been discussing, and if you've gotten 440 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 2: out into the water, you're probably mostly familiar with the 441 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,639 Speaker 2: vibrant corals, and you know sometimes the bleached corals and 442 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:29,440 Speaker 2: shallow coastal environments. But what are black corals? Well? As 443 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 2: the NAA article Black Corals of Hawaii by Anthony Montgomery 444 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:38,120 Speaker 2: points out black corals or thorn corals, which are officially 445 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:40,960 Speaker 2: known as antipatharia, are found all over the world and 446 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 2: at varying depths, so you don't have to go into 447 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,359 Speaker 2: the deep waters to find them, but they're often noted 448 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,640 Speaker 2: for their presence in deep sea environments. Despite their name, 449 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 2: they are rarely actually black. I'll get to why we 450 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 2: still call them black corals in spite of this, But 451 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 2: they can be various even bright colors, and their shapes 452 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:08,400 Speaker 2: also vary wildly. A key difference, however, between black corals 453 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 2: and the stony corals that I think more people are 454 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:16,240 Speaker 2: familiar with, is that black corals have a skeleton made 455 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:21,160 Speaker 2: of protein and kitan. This skeleton is black, no matter 456 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 2: what color the outer layers are, and that's the reason 457 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 2: they end up with this name. So they have black skeletons, 458 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:29,640 Speaker 2: but they may have any number of colors on top 459 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 2: of that skeleton. I see now, Montgomery and that NA 460 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 2: article stresses that black corals do not have symbiotic algae 461 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:45,120 Speaker 2: associated with them, and they don't require light, thus their 462 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,920 Speaker 2: ability to survive at greater depths. And they are apparently 463 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 2: something like two hundred known species of black coral. Now 464 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,280 Speaker 2: the Christmas tree black coral in question here is a 465 00:26:55,320 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 2: particular species Antipathus Dindo christos in nomine patre. That's not 466 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,399 Speaker 2: part of it, but it sounds very Catholic, doesn't it. 467 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:08,360 Speaker 3: Dendro Christo's that's got to literally mean Christmas tree. 468 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, this is one. I'm gonna get to another 469 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,560 Speaker 2: organism later where not everybody seems to be associated with 470 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:16,360 Speaker 2: Christmas as far as I can understand. But this one, 471 00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:19,959 Speaker 2: it's right there in the official name, Okay. According to 472 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:25,160 Speaker 2: environmental factors that influence the distribution, size, and biotic relationships 473 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:29,199 Speaker 2: of the Christmas tree coral antipathis dindel Christos in the 474 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:31,720 Speaker 2: southern California bye by huff at All. This is in 475 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 2: Marine Ecology Progress Series twenty thirteen. The Christmas tree coral 476 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 2: is an uncommon, long lived colonial coral that typically supports 477 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:45,280 Speaker 2: a diverse population of marine life forms. This, of course, 478 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 2: is one of the reasons that there are a number 479 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,199 Speaker 2: of studies looking at it, because there's a lot more 480 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 2: to learn about them and a lot of organisms depend 481 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:55,399 Speaker 2: on them. But why do we call it a Christmas 482 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 2: tree coral? What is even remotely Christmasy about it? Well, 483 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:02,800 Speaker 2: while your mind may easily turn to an image of 484 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 2: a green tree, you know, draped in silver tassels and 485 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 2: multicolored lights, the Christmas tree it's named for is actually 486 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 2: one of those artificially frosted, you know, white flocked Christmas trees, 487 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:15,640 Speaker 2: you know what I'm talking about. These are the ones 488 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 2: where the idea is that the tree is supposed to 489 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 2: look like a frost covered tree in the forest, very 490 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 2: much in keeping with the movie Jack Frost that we 491 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 2: watched for Weird House Cinema, in which Jack Frost essentially 492 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 2: like flocks the trees in the forest, covering them with ice. 493 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 3: Yeah. 494 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:39,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so that is what they're going for here, Joe, 495 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,640 Speaker 2: I included a photograph for you. Here. This is an 496 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 2: image of a leave from the huff at All Paper. 497 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 3: Oh, I absolutely see the comparison. It looks very much 498 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 3: like fur tree branches covered in snow. 499 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 2: Yeah. Now it's not tree shaped, it's not really conical, 500 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,080 Speaker 2: but yeah, it looks like like fir tree branches that 501 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 2: are completely covered in some sort of white frost. Now, 502 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,000 Speaker 2: as the huff at All Paper points out, Christmas tree 503 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:07,880 Speaker 2: corals also occur in red. But my first thought was like, well, 504 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 2: it doesn't always look like a Christmas tree. But that 505 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 2: shows how little I know about the history of flocking 506 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:18,040 Speaker 2: Christmas trees or creating, you know, plastic artificial trees, because 507 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,840 Speaker 2: I easily found an image of like a flocked red 508 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,520 Speaker 2: Christmas tree where it just is like a bright red 509 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 2: imitation fur tree I'm assuming here, And yeah, I mean 510 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,800 Speaker 2: it does not look unlike an actual photograph of a 511 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:34,120 Speaker 2: red Christmas tree black. 512 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 3: Coral, I'd see that. For some reason, this one made 513 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 3: me think alveoli, just like you know, a little red 514 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 3: broccoli in the lungs. 515 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:46,719 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's another solid comparison. Yeah. I 516 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 2: also have to point out this one picture from the 517 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 2: huff at All paper that has the red There's a 518 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 2: red one and then there's a white one right behind it, 519 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 2: and on the red one you see two different crustaceans 520 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,479 Speaker 2: climbing up out And to me, it looks like one 521 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 2: of those sometimes you see like a really wacky themed 522 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 2: holiday tree, you know, where there's very much a particular 523 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 2: theme in mind. It's not about just getting all of 524 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:14,680 Speaker 2: your favorite ornaments on there, but like making something that 525 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 2: is very fashionable. And so I can imagine a tree 526 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,959 Speaker 2: where it's like your only two ornaments are two enormous 527 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 2: crustaceans crawling about on the tree. 528 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 3: Yeah ho ho LV four twenty six. 529 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, that sort of thing. So full grown colonies of 530 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:34,320 Speaker 2: this particular form of black coral apparently reach heights of 531 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,120 Speaker 2: eight feet and eight feet tall, and they can live 532 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 2: more than a century of conditions are favorable. A two 533 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 2: thousand and seven Bulletin of Marine Science paper from love 534 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 2: at all found that basically, in this paper they discuss 535 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 2: how they found a dead two point one meter or 536 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,120 Speaker 2: six point eight feet tall Christmas tree black coral collected 537 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 2: from one hundred and six meter depth or three hundred 538 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 2: and forty eight feet depth off off the coast southern California. 539 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:03,280 Speaker 2: And this one they found to be to have been 540 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,400 Speaker 2: about one hundred and forty years old when it died, 541 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 2: and its skeleton was heavily colonized by invertebrates. According to 542 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:15,360 Speaker 2: this paper and this particular specimen, two five and fifty 543 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 2: four species living there. 544 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 3: Wow, somebody counted all those species? 545 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so it's a lot now that you know 546 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,720 Speaker 2: this is a dead one. But you know, basically the 547 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,800 Speaker 2: idea here is that you know, alive, we're dead. They 548 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,040 Speaker 2: have an important place in the ecosystem, you know, providing 549 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,440 Speaker 2: you know, substrate and so forth for various other organisms 550 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 2: to thrive. And of course, black corals, like other corals, 551 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,560 Speaker 2: are you know, generally threatened by a climate change and 552 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 2: related human industrial level activities, so you know, it's any 553 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 2: threat to them is of course not only a threat 554 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 2: to this particular species, but then there's also all these 555 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:57,760 Speaker 2: cascading effects that can occur with all of the species 556 00:31:57,800 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 2: that are then dependent upon it. 557 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 3: Mm hmm. 558 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 2: I was also reading about how the black in general, 559 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,520 Speaker 2: not with this particular species, the Christmas tree black coral, 560 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,960 Speaker 2: but black corals in general. They have at times been 561 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,680 Speaker 2: prize for medicinal uses and then also for jewelry making, 562 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 2: and I believe in Hawaii there's still a certain amount 563 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 2: of black coral harvesting that is allowed, and I think 564 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 2: largely for jewelry making, though perhaps there's some medicinal usage 565 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 2: in there as well. In other areas, though black corals, 566 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:37,280 Speaker 2: along with other forms of coral, are completely protected, and 567 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:39,120 Speaker 2: to be clear, there is some level of protection in 568 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,520 Speaker 2: Hawaii based on what I was reading, it's just I 569 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:45,560 Speaker 2: think there is some allowance for harvesting. So again, Christmas 570 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 2: tree black corals named named for the Christmas tree, and 571 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,000 Speaker 2: you know, I think it's not unreasonable to say, yes, 572 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:55,800 Speaker 2: they do kind of look like Christmas trees. 573 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,920 Speaker 3: I was going to say, if you tried to make 574 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 3: a Christmas tree like harvests, assuming you could and ecological 575 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 3: concerns aside, harvest some and make it the Christmas tree 576 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 3: in your house, would it still look like a Christmas 577 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 3: tree out of the water. 578 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:13,800 Speaker 2: I'm not sure. I think well, I mean one of 579 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,479 Speaker 2: the things once you with the black corals, it's like 580 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:19,280 Speaker 2: people were harvesting it and doing stuff with the black skeleton. 581 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 2: So I don't know, you might end up with some 582 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 2: sort of like you know, goth black Christmas tree, which 583 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:28,280 Speaker 2: you know, I'm also totally on board for do what 584 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,680 Speaker 2: you want with your Christmas trees. Make them a statement 585 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 2: of your identity. 586 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,200 Speaker 3: Okay, what's our third underwater Christmas tree? 587 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 2: Okay? I did do a little bit more digging for 588 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 2: this one because I was like, all right, we really 589 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 2: need something else for the for the episode. You've got 590 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 2: to round it up with a third, right, And for 591 00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 2: a little bit there I was like, I think the 592 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 2: third is going to be the Christmas Tree of the desert. 593 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:51,720 Speaker 2: And then I had to remind myself in the way, 594 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:53,520 Speaker 2: I can't do that. That's that's not deep sea. That's 595 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 2: the opposite of deep sea. That's the desert. So I 596 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:57,959 Speaker 2: was beginning to think there wasn't going to be something, 597 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:03,040 Speaker 2: But then I started finding some differences from the Monterey 598 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 2: Bay Aquarium and that led me to a particular genus 599 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:11,000 Speaker 2: of Sciphonophor that we're going to talk about here, and 600 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 2: that genus is forced Kalia, and this genus I believe 601 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 2: is unofficially referred to as as containing at least one 602 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:26,440 Speaker 2: variety of Christmas tree siphonophoor. Okay, So what is a 603 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 2: siphonophor or Sciphonophora is an order of colonial free swimming 604 00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:38,560 Speaker 2: or floating marine hydrazooins, such as the Portuguese Man of 605 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 2: War that's probably the most well known member of this group. 606 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:49,080 Speaker 2: And they're mostly delicate, transparent, various colors in play, and 607 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:55,799 Speaker 2: they are composed of zooids, zooids that possess special functions 608 00:34:55,840 --> 00:35:00,200 Speaker 2: such as feeding or locomotion. They're very strange. A Good 609 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:03,719 Speaker 2: Wizard recently discussed a Man of Wars on Automalias Stupendium, 610 00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:08,880 Speaker 2: an occasional Wednesday episode that we do, and in that 611 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,400 Speaker 2: we went into some of the details of what Asopopona 612 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,239 Speaker 2: four actually is. It is a colonial organism made up 613 00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 2: of genetically identical but highly specialized polyps. So what you 614 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 2: might mistake for a single organism's reproductive system, you know, 615 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:30,840 Speaker 2: or a digestive system, grasping arms or the flotation bladder, 616 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 2: are in fact individual zooids. And I have a way 617 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:36,920 Speaker 2: that I make sense of all this, and I'm going 618 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,560 Speaker 2: to adapt what is in that Animalias stupendium episode for 619 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:44,600 Speaker 2: the holiday theme here. Okay, So imagine your Santa Claus 620 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,040 Speaker 2: and you need a reindeer to pull your sleigh this year. 621 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:52,440 Speaker 2: It's a common problem. Unfortunately, all but one of your 622 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,520 Speaker 2: reindeer were killed last year by the bear spirit Tombach. 623 00:35:56,719 --> 00:35:58,200 Speaker 2: So what are you gonna do? You just got one 624 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,680 Speaker 2: one can't pull the sleigh right. Fortunately, you're Santa Claus. 625 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 2: You have access to advanced cloning technology. So what can 626 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:08,840 Speaker 2: you do? Well, you could simply clone Blitzen a dozen 627 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:12,600 Speaker 2: times to produce a host of genetically identical reindeer to 628 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 2: pull your sleigh. That would work, But your Santa Claus, 629 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,440 Speaker 2: what if you aimed higher? What have you? Instead? Formed 630 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 2: each Blitzen clone into a giant organ or organ system 631 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 2: you know, or tissue or part of some sort of 632 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,960 Speaker 2: a greater organism, you know. One Blitzen becomes the digestive system, 633 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,919 Speaker 2: another they're reproductive system, another the skeletal and so forth, 634 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,600 Speaker 2: until you have a single uber Blitzen, a colonial super 635 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:45,560 Speaker 2: deer organism composed of genetically identical individuals. Those individuals do 636 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,120 Speaker 2: not look like a deer. They look like parts of 637 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:51,799 Speaker 2: the greater thing that you associate as a single entity. 638 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:54,040 Speaker 3: Kind of blitzen biovultron. 639 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, vultron is another way of thinking. Like when you 640 00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 2: look at a Portuguese man of war, and when you 641 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,239 Speaker 2: look at any of these siphonophores, you are looking at voltrons. 642 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,000 Speaker 2: But unlike vultron. Vultron of course can come back apart 643 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:11,319 Speaker 2: into lions and fly about. That doesn't happen here, Like 644 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:13,719 Speaker 2: they are all part of the whole. There is no 645 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:15,640 Speaker 2: decoupling from the whole here. 646 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:16,680 Speaker 3: Interesting. 647 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:18,600 Speaker 2: There may be a better way of thinking about it, 648 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:20,600 Speaker 2: but yeah, I tend to think of it in this way. 649 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:23,400 Speaker 2: I think the vultron way of understanding them is also 650 00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:28,840 Speaker 2: pretty solid. So the Forskalia genus was first described in 651 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,640 Speaker 2: the eighteen hundreds, and the species in question here is 652 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:40,960 Speaker 2: Forskalia formosa, first recorded by Keverstein and Elers in eighteen sixty. Now, 653 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:44,480 Speaker 2: I am personally not certain if anyone other than the 654 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:48,320 Speaker 2: Monterey Bay Aquarium and perhaps their web team are calling 655 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 2: this species the Christmas tree siphonofour But even if they're 656 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:54,719 Speaker 2: the only ones, that's good enough for me, because a 657 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,200 Speaker 2: they're a world class institution, and b we needed one 658 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 2: more Christmas tree to round out podcasts. 659 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:02,719 Speaker 3: I mean, I see it. Looking at a picture of 660 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:07,279 Speaker 3: this thing, it looks the most festively decorated I mean 661 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:08,400 Speaker 3: talk about garlands. 662 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,239 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there there are some pictures of this on 663 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,520 Speaker 2: the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website. There's also some really nice 664 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:19,520 Speaker 2: video footage on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's YouTube page. 665 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:23,400 Speaker 2: Especially that video I find you look at it and 666 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:25,319 Speaker 2: you're like, yes, it looks like a Christmas tree. It's 667 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,520 Speaker 2: upside down, but it looks like a you know, roughly 668 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:33,279 Speaker 2: Christmas tree shaped array of branches with illumination. 669 00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:37,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely. So it's kind of actually, I think like 670 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:40,359 Speaker 3: the Christmas tree worm, where it's not so much that 671 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:43,719 Speaker 3: the crowns of the worm look really a lot like 672 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:47,480 Speaker 3: you know, evergreen trees. They're sort of cone shaped, they're 673 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,359 Speaker 3: generally shaped like a tree. But then the real thing 674 00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,600 Speaker 3: is that that that decorating convention, the garland that you 675 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:57,000 Speaker 3: wrap around a tree like a spiral that resembles the 676 00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:59,920 Speaker 3: the you know, the color tips of the spiral, the 677 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:04,040 Speaker 3: radials going up around the tentacles of the worm. In 678 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:06,319 Speaker 3: a similar fashion. Here, I would say that it's not 679 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:09,040 Speaker 3: so much that this looks like a Christmas tree, is 680 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 3: that it's roughly tree shaped, and then it has these 681 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:16,040 Speaker 3: little white shining or glowing bits in the video you've seen, 682 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:19,000 Speaker 3: which makes me think of like the lights that we 683 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:20,799 Speaker 3: put on a Christmas tree. So again, it's kind of 684 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:24,960 Speaker 3: a decorating convention that I think really seals the esthetic comparison. 685 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,800 Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, these organisms 686 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,319 Speaker 2: live in the deep ocean, ranging from the surface down 687 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:36,160 Speaker 2: to six six hundred feet or two hundred meters deep 688 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,440 Speaker 2: in the North Pacific and Atlantic oceans. They reach sizes 689 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,640 Speaker 2: of up to ten feet or three meters in length 690 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:45,040 Speaker 2: or height, depending on how you want to view it 691 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:48,760 Speaker 2: as a Christmas tree, I guess, subsisting on various small 692 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,680 Speaker 2: sea animals in those environments, and it moves through the 693 00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:54,719 Speaker 2: water via a system of floats and swimming bells. 694 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,080 Speaker 3: Whether or not it looks like a Christmas tree to you, 695 00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:59,600 Speaker 3: it is beautiful, that's right. 696 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:02,200 Speaker 2: You know, you could maybe again use this as inspiration 697 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,160 Speaker 2: for your own Christmas tree instead of ornaments this year, 698 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:11,759 Speaker 2: you know, decorate your tree with zooids. I don't know. Yeah, No, no. 699 00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:15,279 Speaker 2: In truth, I think you could technically do a theme 700 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:19,520 Speaker 2: tree based on all three of these organisms. It would 701 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:21,799 Speaker 2: be an impressive feat and I guess it would be 702 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,239 Speaker 2: for a limited audience. But I don't know. Maybe there's 703 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:26,839 Speaker 2: some marine biologists out there who really get into it. 704 00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,880 Speaker 2: If you have ever decorated your Christmas tree to align 705 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,520 Speaker 2: with actual marine organisms named for Christmas trees or associated 706 00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:37,479 Speaker 2: with Christmas trees, obviously we want to know about it. 707 00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:40,560 Speaker 2: Oh yes, I mean it's not impossible. It's not impossible, 708 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 2: but I guess it's more likely there may be people 709 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:45,160 Speaker 2: with Christmas trees out there that have some sort of 710 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:48,920 Speaker 2: a science theme or even a marine biology or underwater 711 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 2: oceanic theme. I would settle for that. I'm always gamed 712 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:54,839 Speaker 2: to look at the pictures of somebody's Christmas tree, so 713 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,919 Speaker 2: by all means, send them in, please do All right, 714 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 2: I think we're going to go ahead it and wrap 715 00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:05,759 Speaker 2: this episode up, But hopefully this was a fun and 716 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,920 Speaker 2: surprisingly different holiday episode from us here. You know, in 717 00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:12,640 Speaker 2: the past, we've done again, you know, Christmas inventions, things 718 00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:17,160 Speaker 2: that tie into like psychological or even philosophical ideas that 719 00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:21,000 Speaker 2: are associated with the holidays. This time we went a 720 00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:23,760 Speaker 2: little deeper in the oceanic sense. 721 00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:26,320 Speaker 3: All I want for Christmas is to have my body 722 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:28,839 Speaker 3: exfoliated by a crown of thorn starfish. 723 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,560 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, those look pretty rough, kind of like a 724 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:35,880 Speaker 2: like a whoopy cushion from Hell. I guess, you know. 725 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:39,520 Speaker 2: C stars in general have like a do not touch vibe, 726 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:41,400 Speaker 2: but these really have it do not touch vibe. 727 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:43,120 Speaker 3: Maybe we have to come back in the future and 728 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:44,799 Speaker 3: give them, give them their own episode. 729 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:47,520 Speaker 2: I think, yeah, we could easily do an episode on 730 00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:49,920 Speaker 2: I mean on starfish in general, you know, calling out 731 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:54,359 Speaker 2: various particular species of note. But yeah, maybe these guys too. 732 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:56,799 Speaker 2: All right, we're gonna wrap it up here then, but 733 00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:59,239 Speaker 2: just a reminder to everyone out there that Stuff to 734 00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:01,560 Speaker 2: Blow your Mind is primarily a science and culture podcast, 735 00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:05,680 Speaker 2: with core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, short form episode 736 00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:08,200 Speaker 2: on Wednesdays and on Fridays. We set aside most serious 737 00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:10,520 Speaker 2: concerns to just talk about a weird film on Weird 738 00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:13,759 Speaker 2: House Cinema. If you want to follow us on Instagram, 739 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,160 Speaker 2: that's probably the best place to follow us these days. 740 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:21,719 Speaker 2: You can find us at st b ym Podcast. And 741 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,160 Speaker 2: let's see what else do we want to mention to here. 742 00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:26,839 Speaker 2: We should have a call out that we do have 743 00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:29,319 Speaker 2: a merch store. If you want to check that out, 744 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,400 Speaker 2: there should be a link on the Instagram. You can 745 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:33,080 Speaker 2: also find a link at stuff to Blow your Mind 746 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:34,000 Speaker 2: dot com. 747 00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:37,640 Speaker 3: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway. 748 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:39,600 Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us 749 00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:42,040 Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 750 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,080 Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello, 751 00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:46,759 Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 752 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:55,279 Speaker 3: your Mind dot com. 753 00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:58,319 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 754 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:01,200 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 755 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:16,800 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to your favorite shows.