22 March 2012 by Michael Marshall. Zoologger
Zoologger is our weekly column highlighting extraordinary animals – and occasionally other organisms – from around the world
Species: Allapasus aurantiacus
Habitat: On and around the seabed off the coast of California
If there’s one way we can be sure that life on Earth really is the result of evolution, and not the guiding hand of a cosmic engineer, it’s the hideous design flaws. The examples are too numerous to list, but let’s just consider one: human males have their testicles on the outside.
It seems they work better that way, because sperm production works best slightly below human body temperature. But it isn’t half inconvenient – as any male who has ever been kicked in the goolies will tell you.
Spare a thought, then, for the newly-discovered Allapasus aurantiacus. The females are the first animals known that have their ovaries on the outside. But according to their discoverers, they are the first of many.
Deep-sea worms
Acorn worms are quite different to the more familiar annelid worms, as they are close-ish relatives of backboned animals. They live on the sea bed, often burrowing into the sediment. Read more at http://t.co/Wxm8gc9B