Long before we were bipedal mammals with skeletons and brains, we were primitive, sack-like sea creatures with no internal organs, no central nervous systems and no butt - and, somehow, there are still creatures like that living today.
They belong to the mysterious Xenoturbella genus, and now researchers have discovered a sixth species of this strange seafloor-dwelling worm - one that may make the creatures much easier to study.
It's called Xenoturbella japonica, and it was discovered by Japanese researchers from the University of Tsukuba on the seafloor in the western Pacific.
They found two specimens - an adult female about 5 centimetres (2 inches) in length, and a juvenile, about 1 centimetre (0.4 inches). They are orange in colour, with an oval mouth and a glandular network on the bottom surface.
The Xenoturbella genus is genuinely peculiar. It was first discovered in 1915, but not described until 1949: a small, sack-like worm with no organs, no circulatory system, no respiratory system, no gonads and no anus (it expels waste through =read more
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