Nature ’s beauty can uprise from the most improbable position . Take leech cocoons , the hammock in which leeches lay their eggs . They have an incredible solid - foam surface , as the look-alike below shows :
A squad of researchers at Rutgers University , Camden ( and one scientist from Turkey ) took a look at these structures to reckon out how they formed , and why they look the way they do . And why did they do that ?
“ Because it ’s fun , ” said the study ’s first writer William Saidel . “ It ’s introductory science — trying to understand what ’s there . ”
The team looked specifically at medicative leeches , which tunnel in mud , form cocoon around themselves , lay their egg , then leave the anatomical structure behind . But medicative sponger cocoon have that unknown foamy mass on the exterior , which other leech cocoon do not . The researcher look at these cocoons under microscopes , and realized that the foamy structure credibly take form as water supply evaporated , creating bubbles .
They even tried make larger interlingual rendition of the cocoons themselves : “ Frozen peas were layered in a rectangular plastic lulu and fence in by plaster of paris , ” according to the paper bring out in the Journal of Morphology last month . The solidify product looked interchangeable to the hardened mucose bubbles .
The scientists evoke that this unique structure probably assist the cocoon retain water , and the exterior spike could keep the cocoon rooted in place . I ’m writing about this because , well , nature can make some really weird poppycock .
The study ’s principal investigator Daniel Shain from Rutgers study leeches because “ not many people study them , ” he said . “ I feel the province to represent other being . And if I do n’t do it then it likely wo n’t get done . ”
[ Journal of Morphology ]
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