When Severed, This Solitary Tunicate Regrows as Three New Animals

While regeneration has long been the domain of colonial tunicates, a solitary species of sea squirt was able to regenerate into multiple, fully functional individuals within a month of being cut up.

Written byAmanda Heidt

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An underwater photo of the solitary tunicate Polycarpa mytiligera growing on a coral in the Red Sea

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ABOVE: The solitary tunicate Polycarpa mytiligera (center) growing on a yellow coral
TAL ZAQUIN

Ascidians, marine invertebrates more commonly known as tunicates or sea squirts, come in two flavors: solitary or colonial. Colonial species are known for their extensive ability to rebuild damaged tissue and even generate entirely new individuals through budding, while solitary species have long been thought to be much more limited in what they can regrow. A study published April 15 in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology has documented for the first time the ability of a solitary tunicate to generate as many as three new individuals in response to amputation.

Tal Gordon, a marine biologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel who completed this work as part of her dissertation (she’s now a postdoc at the same institution), has been studying the tunicate Polycarpa mytiligera since her undergraduate research, and it was during that time when ...

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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