The incredible abilities of aquatic creatures

There are aquatic species that can swallow prey twice as large or more specifically, a species that can regrow its head after being broken, even if it is capable of liquefying.

People have many special talents, but most of what we can do is based on our own hands and minds. It also means that there are things we will not be able to do on our own, such as tying ourselves, liquefying our bodies to squeeze through a small space, or swallowing a thing twice as big as our body. . A surprising fact is that some of the underwater creatures on the list below have these capabilities.

Black Swallower fish can swallow larger prey than itself

The Black Swallower fish has many characteristics that make some other marine fishes terrified, such as bulging black eyes and frightening teeth. However, the real reason here is the ability to swallow prey larger than their bodies. When the Black Swallower finds a prey, it will release, grab and devour gradually its prey until it swallowed it in the stomach.

Black Swallower is omnivorous, it can swallow a prey that is twice as long and ten times as massive. Its stomach is a translucent leather bag, so we can see the whole prey inside and how they digest food. The time to digest this fish's food is quite long due to their large prey size, they will have to wait until the prey decomposes to enjoy the next meal.

Nudibranchs are photosynthetic like trees

Sea slug - Elysia chlorotica has a distinct ability to all other animals, it can use sunlight to photosynthesize like plants. They take chlorophyll from algae and synthesize into their cells. This makes the sea slug a special green color and they are also called "food gathering leaves".

In addition to that extraordinary ability, scientists also discovered that sea slugs can move in the dark for long periods without eating. That proves that photosynthesis may not be the only way to help them survive. However, their photosynthetic capacity still plays an important role in energy synthesis, so far no animal has such ability.

The worm Planarian can regrow its head after being broken

Planarians are a kind of freshwater flatworm, which have excellent regeneration ability.If you chop off the head of a worm planarians, it will still be able to grow a new head with the same function and function normally. It was a very special ability, but the researchers discovered a more surprising thing, that its new head had all the memories of the old head.

This result was achieved by scientists training some flat worms that can withstand light (while others are always avoiding light), and then cut off its head. Two weeks later, those worms regenerated new heads and retained their ability to tolerate light. Researchers have not been able to explain this particular ability. It could be a change of DNA, or the function of a mechanism that scientists have not yet discovered.

Another team found that a single cell has the ability to regenerate a whole new body. They shot a flatworm by radiation until its tissues were destroyed and its cells could no longer divide properly. They then injected a single cell from another adult and the worm could replicate its destroyed parts. This suggests that adult stem cells in flatworms can develop into any part of the body. Unlike human stem cells, only certain parts are specified.

Hagfish can "knot" themselves

Hangfish fish has a special skill that is used while hunting and escapes from danger, which is their body's "self-knotting" skill. The fish's favorite food is small fish that often live in cave. When hunting, the hagfish will find these caves, then plunge into and catch the prey inside. However, in order for the prey to escape from the cave, the hagfish can make their bodies knot themselves and block their mouths with that knot.

The body of this fish often releases a special slime that helps them escape when in danger. However, in addition to using slime, they also utilize knotting skills to escape. When caught by the enemy, they knotted the body itself freely, then moved the knot to the part of the body caught and pushed the body out.

Sea cucumbers can liquefy themselves

Maybe you know sea cucumber has a special protection mechanism. They can launch their guts towards the enemy and then regenerate. However, besides that, they have another incredible ability - a separate defense mechanism - that they can liquefy the body. Basically, they can break the bonds between cells and turn the body into a true liquid (but their bodies are not separated into many parts).

With this special state, they can easily get into hiding places like small stone niches to hide from enemies. Once they feel safe, they can recreate the links and return the body to its normal state. However, this special ability of sea cucumber can cause it to die if kept in a liquefied state for too long.