starfish embryo

In its embryonic phase, each animal species usually presents a quite different appearance from what the resulting individual will have when it develops, although the main features that define the characteristic body shape of its species can often be guessed in the most developed embryo.

However, there are cases in which it is very difficult, if not impossible, to guess the animal to which it belongs just by the appearance of the embryo.

We have an example of the latter in this photograph of a starfish embryo.

Starfish are already strange creatures, and in their embryonic phase that tendency does not diminish.

In the image, captured using a confocal microscope, and then processed, the cell membranes can be seen in gray and the cell nuclei in cyan.

Investigating starfish embryos can be used for more than just studying these animals. In a recent study, pioneering use has been made of starfish embryos as model organisms.

The research was carried out by a team made up of, among others, Vanessa Barone, from the University of California in San Diego, United States, and Luis María Escudero, from the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBiS) in Spain.

(Image: Vanessa Barone)

The study is titled “Local and global changes in cell density induce reorganization of 3D packing in a proliferating epithelium.” And it has been published in the academic journal Development. (Fountain: NCYT by Amazings)