RESEARCH TODAY: Small, Tadpole-like sea creatures make slimy inflatable filtration system

Small, Tadpole-Like Sea Creatures Make Slimy Inflatable Filtration Systems

Giant larvaceans are shaped like tadpoles, only slightly larger; their bodies measure up to four inches in length. These tiny creatures live freely hundreds of feet below the sea surface, where food sources are scarce.

This year, researchers used laser scanning tools to unveil the complex “snot palaces” the creatures build, as study author and bioengineer Kakani Katija of Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute calls the structures. These tiny armless, legless creatures use their own secretions to construct elaborate clouds of snot complete with chambers, ribbed walls, tunnels, halls and chutes.

Much like spiders and their webs, larvaceans use these mucousy structures to capture tiny, sparse food particles floating by. Their little body sits in the middle of the “house,” while they wag their little tail to pump water through the labyrinth of channels and into their mouths—almost like an elaborate plumbing system of sorts. The cloud doubles as an invisibility cloak by concealing the critter’s motion in the dark depths where any false move is a death sentence.

Katija hopes to pull inspiration from these critters to one day create a biomimetic inflatable filtration system. Given that these animals can filter out particles smaller than viruses, perhaps medical-grade or HEPA filters could be improved with such a device.

“We’re still in the discovery phases of this project, and I’m hoping other researchers will pick up the torch,” Katija tells Smithsonian magazine via email.

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