- WHY IT MATTERS: Dawn Vaughn at the University of Washington says the cloning may provide a temporary refuge from predation.
- mediaplayer
Dawn Vaughn At times, larval clones were not much bigger than an unfertilized sand dollar egg.
When sand dollar larvae sense mucus produced by nearby predator fish, they start cloning themselves, scientists have found. The clones are smaller than regular larvae, which may give them an advantage because they are more difficult for the fish to detect.
While larval cloning is well-documented in echinoderms, itʼs generally been thought of as a means to improve growth and reproduction, not as a defense against predators.
Source:
Audio excerpt from the weekly Science journal podcast
