Explainer: This fish is chased by other creatures, it searches for food in the sand using fins like feet!

Scientists also know the northern sea robin by the name Prionotus carolinus. They are one of the most unusual fish in the sea, using their fin-like legs to pull themselves along the seabed. New research shows that these parts of them help them walk. Not only this, fish can also taste whatever they find in search of food. This discovery explains why other marine creatures chase this fish. They do this in search of scraps of their discarded food.

Because this special research
This strange game inspired an international team to investigate the northern sea robin more closely for new research. his research current biology Has been published in. In this, the caught fish were tested under laboratory conditions to find buried mussels.

specific receptors
Observation of the captured fish revealed that they swim and move around on the sandy bottom of the tank. They gradually uncover hidden stores of food with occasional periods of scratching. This fish’s thin legs were covered with sensory papillae, which are filled with touch-sensitive taste receptors, similar to the tiny bumps on our tongues.

Why is there not such sensitivity in all parts?,
By looking deeper into the animal’s genome, the team was able to find the genes responsible for the development of these specialized appendages and discover how sensory papilla adaptations had evolved in some species of sea robin. Whereas this could not happen in other parts. “The sea robin is an example of a species that has a very unusual, very novel property,” says Corey Allard, a cell biologist and electrophysiologist at Harvard University.

A special gene is responsible
Genetic analysis meant that researchers could identify the tbx3a gene responsible for these sensory foot adaptations. In fish that had a distorted form of the gene, the legs, papillae, and food cleaning behavior were adversely affected.

Not all relatives have such ability
Another discovery was made when the second delivery of sea robins did not have the same ability to taste and dig food with their feet. It turned out that this was because the fish was a different species, Prionotus evolens; A type of sea robin that used its legs to walk, but lacked the sensory abilities of its relatives.

The foot fins of the Northern Sea Robin fish resemble the wings of birds. (Photo: Instagram)

another strange thing
Researchers found that the ‘tasty-footed’ species is found only in a few places. This suggests that sensory adaptation may have occurred quite recently from an evolutionary perspective. “This is a fish that evolved legs using the same genes that contribute to the development of our limbs, and then these legs were used by our tongue to taste food,” says Harvard University cell physiologist Nicholas Bellono. They used the same genes again to find prey, which is very strange.”

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The team of researchers say that the northern sea robin’s sensory organs may help understand how such complex traits evolve in wild creatures. as well as
This may also help in understanding other species. “Many traits appear new, but they are usually made up of genes and modules that have existed for a long time,” says David Kingsley, a developmental biologist at Stanford University. “That’s how evolution works

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