Saw this post on Twitter about Colonial/Compound ascidians and thought “that would engrave beautifully!” or maybe poured resin, or inset acrylic, or, or, or…
…I might have a problem 
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Are those alive?
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Why hello there rabbit hole. Super cool, reminds me of a coral fossil I found recently but with color and a cool pattern.
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What a planet we inhabit!
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Yes? I mean, they’re normally underwater so that may be a short-term condition, but my knowledge of these didn’t exist an hour ago so how long they can survive outside of their primary environment is beyond my scope
Someone (on the thread) commented that humans are more closely genetically related to these than we are octopus!
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Interesting!
I read that the animal we most closely resemble in DNA structure is the pig.
(Scary thought, but not completely out of the realm of belief.) 
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I know them as “Sea Squirts”, a filter-feeder that is actually the lowest member of our Phylum. They have that distinction because in their life cycle they have a “free-swimming” period as they mature, and for that period they have a Notochord - which in a human develops into a spinal cord. They eventually settle out of the water column and colonize the surface they land on. If I remember correctly the notochord is absorbed then and they become one of the simplest creatures there is, just a notch above a sponge, and yes, they won’t last long out of the water.
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