WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Is a Brain-Shaped Blob In Canada?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hi brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren bog Obam here with another classic episode from our

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<v Speaker 1>previous host, Christian Sager. This one is about a particularly

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<v Speaker 1>strange type of tiny creature and almost microscopic invertebrate that

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<v Speaker 1>forms up into relatively huge colonies that look like big

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<v Speaker 1>old mossy brains. I'll let Christian explain, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>this is Christian Sager. 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 Zoans 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. Brio

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>four 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 zoan 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>brow 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 temperatures might have opened the

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

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

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>Shields and produced by Dylan Fagan and Tyler Klang. For

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<v Speaker 1>more on this and lots of other curious topics, visit

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff has production off

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