Imagine if trees had defense mechanisms like crinoids. You go to cut down that oak in the backyard, but the minute the chainsaw comes out the tree’s trunk snaps off at the base and the whole thing crawls away into the woods like something out of a horror movie.
Sea stars are far better aliens than anything science fiction has come up with. That goes for a lot of stuff in the ocean. The biting "drone" pedeselari thing is absolutely mind blowing. I don't know of any other animal that does something like that. When I went scuba diving in Mexico, the instructor said, "So, on the reef, what are you allowed to touch?" I said, "Nothing?" "Correct."
You see the animal they think is a ray that looks like an alien with human lips that washed up in AU? That’s an alien. These guys are just alien porpoise offspring.
i always say if you want to find aliens don't look in space (cause it will be eons before you find anything) look in our oceans there you will find aliens aplenty
How do you know he doesn't go to the same dentist as Satan does? Maybe they have the same insurance plan. Hell, they might be college buddies, for all we know.
In summary, Sea Stars are either the most incredibly complex engineering project in the ocean OR evolution outsourced them to the engineering department of MIT and the geeks found the most complicated way to ensure no one else could explain or outsource necessary maintenance.
Evolutionary copy-paste coding. Make a single object class that works, then keep making Derived/Sub/Child classes with new functionality. Soon your whole setup is just variants of a few classes like "Foot" or "Ossicle".
The fact that I'm actually wearing tie dye while watching this is just too perfect! (Yes, I do qualify for the "science" part, too. I'm a biochemist who works with chemical engineers.)
Biting fingers all over the body, detachable venomous biting jaws, these things are alien nightmare fuel. Disembodied limbs continuing to attempt to feed mouths no longer nearby, lost arms regenerating whole new bodies, the slo-mo savagery of the urchin…utterly phantasmagoric creatures. I’m completely hooked on your videos, thank you for all your work creating them.
@@ferretyluv because TV is a dying platform. Like the radio and news paper, it will end up being used by very few people and in it's place will be internet shows.
Absofreakinlutely!! Love Zefrank!! I only wish I had a teacher like him when I was in grade school. Keep these fun & hysterical videos coming Z! We can’t get enough of them!! 👍🏼❤️
I have an uncle that cut off his forefinger with a saw by accident while working in his barn. He couldn't find the finger. He and his wife were scheduled to go to Florida for four months while the snow came and went in his home state of Michigan. So, after a quick trip to the ER to patch up his wound they left for sunny Tampa. When they returned in March the snow was gone thankfully. When my uncle went back to the barn to check things out he found another him. That darn forefinger had grown back another entire uncle. After the initial shock they are now best friends. And, I have two identical uncles. Pretty cool.
Oh sure, one or two is a _"miracle"._ But by the time you're getting to the sixth uncle, or the eighth, whole house payments are going toward cans of WD-40, and you can't find a usable bottle of wood glue if your life depended on it.
Fun fact, the earliest recorded description of the bunyip, an amphibious monster of Australian myth, painted it as a starfish bigger than a person. After watching this video, I can say that would be an extremely terrifying monster.
They used that as a boss battle in Chrono Cross. It starts out asa weird didn't rabbit, cuz "bunny", but it vomits out it's insides and turns out it's actually a giant black sea monster
Everyone has always thought sea stars were the ultimate loners. Then one day a marine Biologist at Monterey Bay accidentally fast forwarded a video he was using to study them. And Behold! They have quite complex social relationships, including best friends. They're just on a different clock than we are.
I hope this becomes a more regular thing again.. I've missed hearing his soothing voice talk about the most insane shit on earth. Also - should do a video on the horseshoe crab. Weird little bastards, they are.
as a scientist I'm DELIGHTED by the trajectory of this channel. I loved the series when it began but now it's become something exceptionally special. Science needs communicators like zefrank because god only knows scientists turn into mouth-breathers when we have to talk about out fetishes (areas of specialty)
Maybe I'm hearing things, but this episode sounds like Ze found something that he could. not. wait to tell us when he wrote this, like, even more than in other videos in the series. He sounds incredibly enthusiastic. I love it.
@@TheSektorz there is dude I follow he does some like horror comedy short movies but he also does so super crazy sponge Bob theories the craziest part is how he links all the evidence... Some of it is HOOLLLYY FUCKING SHIT!
I just realized with this episode that there must be a tremendous amount of research to compile the information just to get it to the point where he can write the script…it’s like the ultimate entertainment doctorate thesis.
sea stars are so crazy, I rewatch every one of these true facts videos every so often and I always learn something new. thank you. I'm 29, a law school drop out, general fuck up, but I'm going to start my associates in biology with the goal of becoming a field biologist/documentarian. I'm not gonna say anything sappy like it's because of you or that you're a hero to me or anything like that, I just wanted to thank you for the time and love you put into making this video. I can tell you really fuck with sea stars, and I really fuck with you, Ze. best wishes.
Me too!🤘🏼Except you made it further than me by making it TO law school. I am also 29 and was pre-law all through undergrad. But then I barely graduated and said “Screw that mess” to law school and haven’t really done much with my life since. But ZeFrank videos give me joy when I’m feeling down, and that’s something special.
I'm 27, and spent the years since I graduated with no real ambition or real idea of what I wanted to do. I'm right there with you, going to start on the path of becoming a biologist, with a focus in marine biology. AVNJ made a video on how to become a biologist. Worth checking out.
I'll be honest, I'm a wildlife biologist (granted my knowledge is mostly terrestrial animals and trees) and I never realized how damn interesting the sea star family is.
@@yannickchayer1609 sea creatures are the ancients of the Earth. Primordial yet advanced. They are both more simple than land creatures and yet more complex. Life never ceases to amaze me.
This has got to be one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Not just the subject matter which is fascinating by itself, but the narrative and the delivery. A masterpiece. Thank you.
I'm an invertebrate paleontologist and I gotta say that I'm used to fossil echinoderms being weird, but I was not prepared for the crazy soft-tissue stuff that they get up to in real life.
@@marcgoodman4862 Your Mom has an exoskeleton and locomotes by expanding and contracting segments of her body. I'm sorry. I had to, I absolutely had to.
I feel that if I were a marine biologist specializing in echinoderms, having someone truly interested contacting me to have me tell them a bunch of really specific and interesting facts about echinoderms would feel like the best present I could get.
What’s your favorite weird animal that people don’t usually talk about? also I’ve heard a lot of strange things about eels are they all just Like That?
Yes, But you have to earn it though. Years and years of study. My niece is a Marine Biologist. Now she is working with Climate Change Scientists. This took her years of intense training. So don't "imagine" your life away. Make it happen.
i’ve never been particularly interested in sea stars, but the fact that almost every shot in this video showed a unique looking sea star has me captivated
I used to teach about sea stars at the Minnesota Zoo, and they are so weird and unique that people didn't always BELIEVE me! I feel quite validated now, so thank you for that, lol.
As an evolutionary biologist, I will now be getting "Evolution can do magical things if you get it drunk enough," cross-stitched, framed, and hung on the wall of my lab.
@@LouiseStastny Well to ask how evolution "creates" is kind of a non-starter since... it doesn't create. Evolution is what happens after life, or anything really (you can describe the Evolution of a chair), is created and that's the amazing part. It's just luck, the slightest bit of skill, but overall just surviving and making more babies generation after generation. So what you're really asking is "what created life?". Now, from assumption, you already have your answer. To an extent it's still a possible answer. However, most of the scientific community, from looking at our world, don't accept that answer. We haven't seen/observed enough to prove it and more often observed stuff to disprove the notion that "our universe has been meticulously controlled for billions of years and our fates have been preordained". I'm on the side that there can be a creator, but they are either just observing their creation or have abandoned it altogether and just letting it go it's course.
I started watching UA-cam about 3 years ago (I'm 48). Zefrank was the first person I followed (I'm up to about a dozen now). Always entertaining and informative, I'm happy he's posting again!
The "finally arrest the tooth fairy" joke was gold. 😂 Thank you for such an informative and hilarious video! I can't imagine the amount of work that went into this!
“Your nipple can not turn into an eye. Thank God!” Might be more than just another one of the most hilarious and most awesome sentences and/or phrases…
"The ancestor of sea stars and other echinoderms said screw it, I want to be a circle" And within the first 10 seconds, Ze Frank has me dying of laughter
Evolution my hairy arse that stuff is so complicated there is no way it could happen. By accident. I can't tell you how we got here but I can say it's not Evolution like they say. The complexity of every indiviform of life is fat to complex to just happen. Millions of pairs of dna just perfectly formed and in perfect order. No way in hell
This is why i feel like if complex aliens existed, they'd be completely, utterly incomprehensible to us. Even the weirdest sci-fi creatures can't hold a candle to mother nature's creations.
yes, but at the same time evolution sometimes tend to converge on the same shapes, even from completely different branches. because there are some characteristics that are inherently better at solving specific problems.
You've done an excellent job of explaining the anatomical features that make the sea star. I had a brittle star hitchhike on some rock back when I had a reef tank. They're pretty neat.
I've been saving this for a month - it did not disappoint! "Drowning burlesque dancer" is such a wonderful and horrible image at the same time. This was probably one of your most truly fascinating videos - the life in our oceans is something to behold. The fact that Sea Stars can regenerate their limbs at will, even transforming their parts wholesale, is a wonder of nature that could well lead in the future to our discovery of human cell regeneration; the medical benefits of such are obvious.
Eighteen minutes of horrified fascination (and an ad). Absolutely brilliant. Like I've read about echinoderms lots of times but they glossed over, apparently, a whole, *whole* lot.
That's one thing I've always found interesting about these critters: They have a 'top' and a 'bottom' , but no dedicated 'back', 'front' or 'sides'. Unlike almost every other critter on earth...
You sound so enthusiastic this time. You normally have good energy, but I feel like you were more impressed. I liked that. But geez, sea stars are freaking awesome! Who could blame you?
As someone who is afraid of spiders, centipedes and pretty much anything with more than four legs, with the fear factor increasing the more legs I see, I now have a whole new appreciation of H.P. Lovecrafts obsession with writing cosmic beings as marine life. These things truly are the stuff of horrible, horrible nightmares. Great work on the video as always, absolutely love them, and the biology, albeit sheer horror, is fascinating!
@@IntrovertedBear Well when you have over 550 million years for weird traits and mutations to accumulate into a creature that has to survive, life finds a way. In any case it's not like it's particularly more complex than you are and you're alive.
OMG, I can't believe you got to talk to Chris Mah and actually made an episode about this. I've been addicted to the NOAA and Okeanos dive feeds for years now, so cool to see all the incredible footage with your narration
The Seastar having the ability to rehenerate reminds me of a story: there were some people trying to save a coral reef a long time ago, trying to control the seastar population by removing the seastars from the ocean, cutting them into pieces and flinging them back into the ocean. After so long, they had effectively increased the population exponentially, leading to the even faster demise of the reef. Sad, but also kinda funny...
For all our hubris about being the most intelligent species, humans still haven't learned to think things through. First idea we get, we grab onto, slamming our minds shut and attacking anyone who dares to ask any questions. Hence, the destruction of our planet
This reminds me of when india(I think) put a bounty on cobras, so people started breeding cobras to bring in for bounty, and eventually many of them would escape, increasing the cobra population!
"It's a little like: evolution got a model airplane kit. But where the pieces weren't labelled. So there was nothing left to do but sniff the glue and get creative" That line is pure murder :')
You'd have to be brain dead to believe that this was the result of 'evolution". Something this complex did not happen to evolve from random mutations, God designed and created all this. Nothing else is remotely plausible.
came here to comment on that same line. the 'nothing left to do but sniff the glue and get creative' made me snarf my tea. one of the many lines from ze that make life worth living.
For all you internet children, ZeFrank has been at this for a LONG time. We watched these in HS Science class all the time. Also studied his stuff in Uni. 😆 He's voiced commercials and tons of stuff. Canadian boi My favourite video of all time will always be "True Facts about Owls" instant happiness. 👌 I agree. Give the man a show, already. 👏
This episode was absolutely stunning, and perfectly narrated. I didn't know 95% of what you presented in there. It was such a cool trip to the ocean floor. Also, what I'll remember for a long time, as a life lesson : "Let it go"
You don't assume I'm unknowledgeable. You don't assume I'm a prude. You give a simple too understand yet complicated and nuanced explanation of your craft. You sir are what UA-cam is meant for.
You’ve earned a new sub from me. I just found your videos and not only are they actually educational but also absolutely hilarious. You strike a perfect mix of learning and just goofing off and I absolutely love it
If onlyZefrank had been my biology professor I would have majored in that field, he is a genius!! After listening to him who wouldn’t find this fascinating and remember all of it. Love when he says bebees!!
When I heard "it just gets crazier and crazier, right?" I had no idea it would just double in weirdness every passing scene from there on. That is how the sea star do.
i like how zefrank makes learning about science fun and digestible. My 9th grade science teacher was not nearly as funny as our lovely gentleman here is. I applaud you zefrank!
Be fair to science teachers. It's much easier to make animal facts fun then the more complex subjects generally talked about in a chemistry or biology class.
I started feeling suspicious right at the start when Zefrank told me how they start their lives, but by the time he revealed to me Sea Stars have somehow evolved what amounts to dumb drone swarms, I was sure. H. P. Lovecraft was right and these things are most definitely descended from some horror from beyond the stars.
Indeed. and as we can see at 13:50 they are not alone as eldritch oceanic horrors from beyond, as the dreaded cousins of the crab/fungoid Mi-Go or Yeti likewise take part in the evolutionary warfare we see before us.
the amount of in depth education you present here is insane! you make it fun to watch about topics most people would put away with a simple "boring". Seriously thank you a lot!
I love that you seek out the most obscure facts imaginable to include. It is rare for me to find new data on species these days, but your videos often include a gem or two. The autonomous pedicellaria is a new one for me, super cool.
That was really interesting, but you'd have to be one of the funniest narrators I have seen on UA-cam so far, well done. By the way, I'm keeping, " evolution can do amazing things, if you get it drunk enough ", that's gold.
The starfish being the badassest totally weird thing on the planet was the story I didn't know I needed. Those flying mouth parts of death? Dafuuuuuuq?! 😱 Ze, you are one of the most engaging writers out there, and what you've contributed is meaningful. It's not just entertainment, it's important. It matters. I'm grateful for you.
Any one else feel like they live their lives just waiting for zefrank1s uploads lmfao.... every time I get a notification I click on it immediately and get super excited....always makes my day. Hilarious, informative, and highly entertaining....thanks zefrank1 you're amazing 🥰🥰🥰
The mass brittlestar orgies that happened in my old marine tank were something to behold. Hundreds of them, all at the same time, climbed to the top of the rocks, thrust their bodies up and simultaneously "let go". Between them and the bristleworms the tank was often cloudy!
My grandfather ran an oyster company and just hated sea stars, they are the natural enemy of oysters. They developed a way to specifically get them out of the water.
THANK YOU for continuing to make this series! I live in fear (FEAR!) that each video will be the last "True Facts:" and every time I see a new one, I'm SOOO grateful!! Please continue these videos, Mr. Frank - they are so much fun!! ⭐☀⭐
This is surely TMI, but as it happens, I was watching this while having a bath. I found it both fascinating and terrifying. However, the kicker came when my foot touched the non-slip baby sticker on my bathtub (which I now ironically realise is a seastar) which recently came loose. I got quite a vivid imagination fright!
Imagination frights are the best. Ever be in bed, about to fall asleep, and you forget about a part of yourself and think you brushed against something else in there with you or felt what you thought was someone else's hand holding you?
@@Gigas0101 Ohhhh nooooo!! That would be scary! My experience is just as I'm falling asleep, I feel I've fallen off a pavement, and wake up with a start!! 😅 Funny how the human mind works eh!
This is the most I've learned in a single video in ages. Apparently, I knew nothing about sea stars, just that we had purple and orange ones on our coast. Holy guacamole, thank you, zefrank.
It's these kinds of nature documentaries that make me want to revive that "All Underwater" DnD campaign idea I had a while back. Imagine an entire class of monsters, that are just giant, faster sea-stars. In their various forms. DM: "You are attacked by another giant sea-star. Roll initiative." Players: "Oh god, what now." DM: "The sea-star shoots dozens of tiny detached mouths, that try to bite and poison you. Dexterity save AND Constitution save, please." Players: :(
Ze, we have been binge watching and rewatching you videos today and it has had us laughing and soaking in so much amazing information. We love your channel and are so thankful for your huge effort and time to entertain us in such a fun way. Thank you so very much!! We are so grateful and appreciate the sore cheeks from smiling. ❤😂❤❤
“It looks like a bag of evidence from when they finally arrest the tooth fairy” I want to smoke whatever Ze Frank was smoking when he came up with this line
Thank you zefrank. Your timing is impeccable as we are getting ready to learn about echinoderms. With a little well-timed muting, I'm showing this to my Zoology class on Monday.
11:30 "Be not afraid" the starfish says with a loud rumbling voice while approaching you slowly. But the voice does not appear to come out of its mouth...
bonus fact: when I was in college level biology and doing disections, we had to dissect several animals to understand them of course and I must say based on smell alone, the starfish was by far the worst and that, is a fact
"Where there's nothing to do but sniff the glue and get creative." ZeFrank? Have you been watching me? How did you know this is my technique for kitbashing in model railroading?
What messes me up is that, outside of other chordates, these are the invertebrates most closely related to us. More than bugs or worms. These are our closest squishy no-spine having cousins. Like what the hell
I'm genuinely surprised that this comment doesn't have some creationist christian apologist nonsense in the replies. Maybe I'm underestimating the quality of Zefrank viewers based on my experiences with the population at large, or at least in the Southern US. Also I didn't know that, it's kind of...well, it sure is something. When we dissected sea stars in my HS Biology class, it was at a small private Christian school in Alabama--and of course humans are the beloved of God and nothing descended from anything, so I'm not surprised that interesting little nugget didn't make it into the lesson plan.
Well, not quite. There's another phylum of animals called hemichordates that are more closely related to echinoderms than chordates are to them, therefore making hemichordates equally as distantly related to us as echinoderms are.
Learn to think! Happy to be sponsored by brilliant.org/Zefrank/
First 200 people get 20% off the annual Premium subscription.
Perfect
hi
No frank what you do is a better way to learn
what's that music at the end?... it's so good... shazam's being a beech...
I was just thinking about how much I missed your videos yesterday :-)
Imagine if trees had defense mechanisms like crinoids. You go to cut down that oak in the backyard, but the minute the chainsaw comes out the tree’s trunk snaps off at the base and the whole thing crawls away into the woods like something out of a horror movie.
...I want that to be a thing, now.
treants...
thank you, Jude Black. you’re a genius
@@sleephut3754 Mildly disturbing ideas are my gift to the world
I don't think I want to live on a planet that has flying carnivorous trees
Sea stars are far better aliens than anything science fiction has come up with. That goes for a lot of stuff in the ocean.
The biting "drone" pedeselari thing is absolutely mind blowing. I don't know of any other animal that does something like that.
When I went scuba diving in Mexico, the instructor said, "So, on the reef, what are you allowed to touch?"
I said, "Nothing?"
"Correct."
there is scary crap on a reef, spines, toxins, and teeth abound.
good answer!
You see the animal they think is a ray that looks like an alien with human lips that washed up in AU? That’s an alien. These guys are just alien porpoise offspring.
which is why idfw the ocean OR space. my ass was made for the ground and ill stay here.
i always say if you want to find aliens don't look in space (cause it will be eons before you find anything) look in our oceans there you will find aliens aplenty
“Something you might find on a tray at Satan’s dentist”
Zefrank never cease to amaze me with these creative jabs at nature.
How do you know he doesn't go to the same dentist as Satan does? Maybe they have the same insurance plan. Hell, they might be college buddies, for all we know.
"Don't worry, she gets away. Just kidding...she dies."
I snorted my coffee everywhere, that got me good.
You don’t want to know wha I did with my coffee!
Just like the fish sadly 😭
For me it was the one, "...a bowl of chili and a bottle of Southern Comfort and you can turn your stomach inside out and digest things too." 🤣
Standard disclaimer: Never Ever Drink While Watching Ze Frank!
In summary, Sea Stars are either the most incredibly complex engineering project in the ocean OR evolution outsourced them to the engineering department of MIT and the geeks found the most complicated way to ensure no one else could explain or outsource necessary maintenance.
There is also the third option: Aliens did it
Evolutionary copy-paste coding. Make a single object class that works, then keep making Derived/Sub/Child classes with new functionality.
Soon your whole setup is just variants of a few classes like "Foot" or "Ossicle".
@@CrimsonBlasphemy Things get even weirder if you allow multiple inheritance.
anaphora
this literally sounds like a zefrank summary lol
as a marine biologist, i can confirm that "science hippies" is a 100% accurate term for marine biologists
The fact that I'm actually wearing tie dye while watching this is just too perfect! (Yes, I do qualify for the "science" part, too. I'm a biochemist who works with chemical engineers.)
even the really buff ones like Dr Kujo?
Masquerain!
Former marine biologist here: you're not wrong, dude.
@@d.w.stratton4078 I thought you're never a former marine biologist. Like a marine. Once a marine always a marine. What say you? 🧐
Zefrank is like that one friend you don't talk to that often, but, whenever you do, you always have a really interesting conversation.
Interesting? I think "somewhat dirty and latently disturbing conversation" is what you meant! :D
The kinda friend I wanna be
He should be Attenborough's replacement on planet earth when he retires.
and you usually end up learning something you had no clue about or intention of learning haha so good
@@Kirmeins pretty much most of my interesting conversations are that though?
Biting fingers all over the body, detachable venomous biting jaws, these things are alien nightmare fuel. Disembodied limbs continuing to attempt to feed mouths no longer nearby, lost arms regenerating whole new bodies, the slo-mo savagery of the urchin…utterly phantasmagoric creatures. I’m completely hooked on your videos, thank you for all your work creating them.
If they were the size of cars, moved twice as fast, and had the ability to cross onto land, humans wouldn't be laughing at Patrick Star quite as much.
Just give Zefrank his own show on Animal Planet already. I think the man's earned it with this performance.
Have zefrank and casual geographic cohost.
More kids watch UA-cam than Animal Planet anymore, unfortunately. I asked a kid about Shark Week and he had no idea what I was talking about.
@@ferretyluv because TV is a dying platform. Like the radio and news paper, it will end up being used by very few people and in it's place will be internet shows.
Zefrank: "Do you know how much power I would have to give up to become an Animal Planet host?"
Absofreakinlutely!! Love Zefrank!! I only wish I had a teacher like him when I was in grade school. Keep these fun & hysterical videos coming Z! We can’t get enough of them!! 👍🏼❤️
I have an uncle that cut off his forefinger with a saw by accident while working in his barn. He couldn't find the finger. He and his wife were scheduled to go to Florida for four months while the snow came and went in his home state of Michigan. So, after a quick trip to the ER to patch up his wound they left for sunny Tampa. When they returned in March the snow was gone thankfully. When my uncle went back to the barn to check things out he found another him. That darn forefinger had grown back another entire uncle. After the initial shock they are now best friends. And, I have two identical uncles. Pretty cool.
Fascinating!
Your aunt must be happy. 😉
Must be good gummies! I cannot imagine a dead finger part growing into an entire person but if you saw it hope you enjoyed your trip!!
Take my like, _you’ve earned it_
Oh sure, one or two is a _"miracle"._ But by the time you're getting to the sixth uncle, or the eighth, whole house payments are going toward cans of WD-40, and you can't find a usable bottle of wood glue if your life depended on it.
The “butt” versus “but” joke is a classic one for this channel, and it still gets me literally every single time
Amazingly it never gets old
That and zefrank's hatred for clams.
Fun fact, the earliest recorded description of the bunyip, an amphibious monster of Australian myth, painted it as a starfish bigger than a person. After watching this video, I can say that would be an extremely terrifying monster.
Check out the newer Suicide Squad movie if you want to see a sea star kaiju lol
STARRO THE CONQUEROR!
They used that as a boss battle in Chrono Cross. It starts out asa weird didn't rabbit, cuz "bunny", but it vomits out it's insides and turns out it's actually a giant black sea monster
What did indigenous Australians need to invent new monsters for…? They already live in Australia. Just stepping a foot outside would do the job. 😂
They needed something that wouldnt be as scary as the rest of their critters
Everyone has always thought sea stars were the ultimate loners.
Then one day a marine Biologist at Monterey Bay accidentally fast forwarded a video he was using to study them.
And Behold!
They have quite complex social relationships, including best friends.
They're just on a different clock than we are.
Wow! That's amazing!
Zefrank could do a whole video just based on that!
I suspect that could be true of many things in nature--they are just on a different time. There are even those who think that's true of rocks.
@@harrietharlow9929 rocks arnt sentient so that's stupid
ayy monterey moment
So cute!
This was ridiculously informative. I came here expecting to be entertained and left slightly scared, mentally scarred and educated.
10/10
Fascinating and Frightening!!!
Bingo.🎯
I must admit, sea stars/starfish is one of my favorite sea animals. But those close ups freaks me out
Welcome to the world of zoology! 😂
I hope this becomes a more regular thing again.. I've missed hearing his soothing voice talk about the most insane shit on earth.
Also - should do a video on the horseshoe crab. Weird little bastards, they are.
@Cool so are the bots, apparently.
@@Frosty_tha_Snowman bots are evolving
@@marcogenovesi8570 I guess so.. it ran away 😂
was it ever regular? aha
I agree with you about these videos. I have missed them a lot... I need the laughs as well as the education.....
6:21
“Your foot can’t do that. Your foot’s boring.”
That one always makes me grin.
as a scientist I'm DELIGHTED by the trajectory of this channel. I loved the series when it began but now it's become something exceptionally special. Science needs communicators like zefrank because god only knows scientists turn into mouth-breathers when we have to talk about out fetishes (areas of specialty)
What makes someone a scientist?
Like; I do science sometimes
@@newjerseyyouth4853 accreditation
@@newjerseyyouth4853 Empiricism and the scientific method.
@@newjerseyyouth4853 papers and test tubes on your desk. tesla coils. einstein hair.
Jerry's arts and crafts have really improved lately, well done!
Nice job Jerry!!
How do we know Jerry is still there, or real? I didn't hear any corrections to Jerry!
Edit: Ok, saved at the end!
@@alaskanwolf , Jerry isn’t real. He’s Ze’s imaginary co-worker, the one who messes stuff up.
@@SuziQ. I was just making sure I didn’t imagine him since there were no Jerry jokes until the end.
Maybe I'm hearing things, but this episode sounds like Ze found something that he could. not. wait to tell us when he wrote this, like, even more than in other videos in the series. He sounds incredibly enthusiastic. I love it.
I found this extra funny and exciting. I had no idea about a lot of this.
@@meredithgrubb7027 hard agree. It was an infectious enthusiasm.
Agreed!! He's genuinely amazed and you can HEAR it lol
felt like when a small child learns something and has to tell you everything.
I love listening to Frank giggle while he's explaining stuff. It's adorable and he's really funny.
If you enjoy the ZeFrank giggles, you must watch True Facts: Pangolins Posse. The best of his work, IMO.
'Evolution can do anything, if you get it drunk enough.'
Words to live by.
I want that on a shirt.
It should come with a free axolotl.
Or if you code too much at night
Can it make me a girlfriend who loves me?
@@patrickfrost9405 Probably already has, you just gotta go make an effort to find her.
Ah yeah, mr. buttery-smooth voice, talk to me about Patrick Star
🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Even more hilarious if you watch the SpongeBob theories.
@@Perroden SpongeBob theories? Oh bruh I gotta google that for sure
@@TheSektorz there is dude I follow he does some like horror comedy short movies but he also does so super crazy sponge Bob theories the craziest part is how he links all the evidence... Some of it is HOOLLLYY FUCKING SHIT!
@@TheSektorz one of the most out there ones is that goofy goobers is a cover for a cult
This comment is going places
I just realized with this episode that there must be a tremendous amount of research to compile the information just to get it to the point where he can write the script…it’s like the ultimate entertainment doctorate thesis.
Either that or he's already an expert and doesn't need to go too far out of his way to rant about the crazy aspects of crazy organisms.
But entertaining and not just to give someone a useless diploma.
Not mention all the sex jokes
sea stars are so crazy, I rewatch every one of these true facts videos every so often and I always learn something new. thank you. I'm 29, a law school drop out, general fuck up, but I'm going to start my associates in biology with the goal of becoming a field biologist/documentarian. I'm not gonna say anything sappy like it's because of you or that you're a hero to me or anything like that, I just wanted to thank you for the time and love you put into making this video. I can tell you really fuck with sea stars, and I really fuck with you, Ze. best wishes.
I fuck wit’chu. Life is life! Wishing you well. We’ve each survived our worst days up to this point… You’re ona roll.
Me too!🤘🏼Except you made it further than me by making it TO law school.
I am also 29 and was pre-law all through undergrad. But then I barely graduated and said “Screw that mess” to law school and haven’t really done much with my life since.
But ZeFrank videos give me joy when I’m feeling down, and that’s something special.
I'm 27, and spent the years since I graduated with no real ambition or real idea of what I wanted to do. I'm right there with you, going to start on the path of becoming a biologist, with a focus in marine biology.
AVNJ made a video on how to become a biologist. Worth checking out.
I can’t imagine the research, time, resources, and the wit that zfrank exhausts in creating these works of art. Absolutely beautiful human being.
I feel like at some point, this channel turned from making fun of documentaries and Morgan Freeman's into actual educational videos...
I imagine the channel has resources of documentation, and visual records, provided by others'. The explanations i saw are brilliant, lol
He contacts lots of experts (professors, biologists, etc.) before making his videos. Check out the video descriptions for credits.
@@gogokowai i just remembered what it used to be lol and they keep getting better
We all know Jerry does 95% of the real work.
I'll be honest, I'm a wildlife biologist (granted my knowledge is mostly terrestrial animals and trees) and I never realized how damn interesting the sea star family is.
cool man😎
The whole damn underwater is just crazy weird and interesting
@@yannickchayer1609 sea creatures are the ancients of the Earth. Primordial yet advanced. They are both more simple than land creatures and yet more complex. Life never ceases to amaze me.
Please don't ever stop doing these, every episode is a braingasm and so totally enjoyable!
"Your feet is boring" I can't argue with that 🤣
"Braingasm". Marvelous. Thank you for teaching me a new word that makes a feeling.
I remember when he did stop, but I stayed subbed for years. Was worth it.
absolutely.
Everyone just went out onto their porch with a bottle of Rose' and braingasmed into the night air after watching.
This has got to be one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Not just the subject matter which is fascinating by itself, but the narrative and the delivery. A masterpiece. Thank you.
I'm an invertebrate paleontologist and I gotta say that I'm used to fossil echinoderms being weird, but I was not prepared for the crazy soft-tissue stuff that they get up to in real life.
Oh yeah? How do you walk then?
And to think there's innumerous soft bodies species lost to time 😭
@@CloudCosta He might have an exoskeleton. Or maybe he locomotes by contracting and expanding segments of his body.
@@marcgoodman4862 Your Mom has an exoskeleton and locomotes by expanding and contracting segments of her body.
I'm sorry. I had to, I absolutely had to.
So not all sea stars live under a rock under the sea. Next thing you'll say is that sponges don't live inside pineapples too.
Crazy right?
If that's the case then it would shatter my world to learn that squids don't actually live in the Moai
Fun fact starfish eat snails
Fr fr
@@TinyShadedForestCreature they didn't. Octopuses do.
I feel that if I were a marine biologist specializing in echinoderms, having someone truly interested contacting me to have me tell them a bunch of really specific and interesting facts about echinoderms would feel like the best present I could get.
As a Marine Biologist, getting to talk abtou the ocean and its strange animals is the best feeling in the world.
What’s your favorite weird animal that people don’t usually talk about? also I’ve heard a lot of strange things about eels are they all just Like That?
Yes, But you have to earn it though.
Years and years of study.
My niece is a Marine Biologist. Now she is working with Climate Change Scientists. This took her years of intense training.
So don't "imagine" your life away.
Make it happen.
@@eddievanhalenhoward You have created doubt about your credentials. 🤔
i’ve never been particularly interested in sea stars, but the fact that almost every shot in this video showed a unique looking sea star has me captivated
Fitting pfp
I used to teach about sea stars at the Minnesota Zoo, and they are so weird and unique that people didn't always BELIEVE me! I feel quite validated now, so thank you for that, lol.
Who would believe that something like sea stars exists which are compeltely different then animals on land :)
Joke's on them for not believing facts XD
@@vaimantobe3034 TRUE facts at that
I find it appalling that I haven't read half of this in the critter books I read. This one really blew my mind and was exciting.
I PRACTICALLY GREW UP THERE!
As an evolutionary biologist, I will now be getting "Evolution can do magical things if you get it drunk enough," cross-stitched, framed, and hung on the wall of my lab.
I don’t cross stitch but I can embroider one for you.
@@LouiseStastny oh no here we go
@@LouiseStastny Well to ask how evolution "creates" is kind of a non-starter since... it doesn't create. Evolution is what happens after life, or anything really (you can describe the Evolution of a chair), is created and that's the amazing part. It's just luck, the slightest bit of skill, but overall just surviving and making more babies generation after generation. So what you're really asking is "what created life?". Now, from assumption, you already have your answer. To an extent it's still a possible answer. However, most of the scientific community, from looking at our world, don't accept that answer. We haven't seen/observed enough to prove it and more often observed stuff to disprove the notion that "our universe has been meticulously controlled for billions of years and our fates have been preordained". I'm on the side that there can be a creator, but they are either just observing their creation or have abandoned it altogether and just letting it go it's course.
@@DemonsIce Life uh. finds a way. we like to humanize natural processes. don't let an idiom make you upset.
It's funny because it's true.
Thank goodness this guy is doing these things again. I don't think I would have ever known that sea stars have terrifying little tiny claws.
its the sea urchins withOUT spines that are really scar with those claws, their poison has killed people.
I started watching UA-cam about 3 years ago (I'm 48). Zefrank was the first person I followed (I'm up to about a dozen now). Always entertaining and informative, I'm happy he's posting again!
The "finally arrest the tooth fairy" joke was gold. 😂 Thank you for such an informative and hilarious video! I can't imagine the amount of work that went into this!
“Your nipple can not turn into an eye. Thank God!”
Might be more than just another one of the most hilarious and most awesome sentences and/or phrases…
True Facts evolved from a quirky parody documentary series to a detailed informative documentary series so gradually I didn't even notice!
"Evolution can do wonderful things if you get it drunk enough."
@@MesaperProductions full circle! Brilliant.
Yeah i prefer the parody stuff
"The ancestor of sea stars and other echinoderms said screw it, I want to be a circle"
And within the first 10 seconds, Ze Frank has me dying of laughter
"Evolution can do wonderful things if you get it drunk enough."
My new favorite Zefrank expression. Right after "'cause that's how the _____ do,"
Zefrank: Where the Truth is Funny
Evolution my hairy arse that stuff is so complicated there is no way it could happen. By accident. I can't tell you how we got here but I can say it's not Evolution like they say. The complexity of every indiviform of life is fat to complex to just happen. Millions of pairs of dna just perfectly formed and in perfect order. No way in hell
This is why i feel like if complex aliens existed, they'd be completely, utterly incomprehensible to us. Even the weirdest sci-fi creatures can't hold a candle to mother nature's creations.
Yes, I was thinking if such a nervous system with no central brain could develop a conscious, what kind of culture would they have.
If octopi have taught us anything, it's exactly this
totally
yes, but at the same time evolution sometimes tend to converge on the same shapes, even from completely different branches. because there are some characteristics that are inherently better at solving specific problems.
@@danilooliveira6580 The crab shape, for instance. Lots of non crabs that look exactly like crabs
You've done an excellent job of explaining the anatomical features that make the sea star. I had a brittle star hitchhike on some rock back when I had a reef tank. They're pretty neat.
And thank god it's on trending page.. Kinda puked seeing those cringe mumble rappers on trending
I've been saving this for a month - it did not disappoint! "Drowning burlesque dancer" is such a wonderful and horrible image at the same time. This was probably one of your most truly fascinating videos - the life in our oceans is something to behold. The fact that Sea Stars can regenerate their limbs at will, even transforming their parts wholesale, is a wonder of nature that could well lead in the future to our discovery of human cell regeneration; the medical benefits of such are obvious.
Eighteen minutes of horrified fascination (and an ad). Absolutely brilliant. Like I've read about echinoderms lots of times but they glossed over, apparently, a whole, *whole* lot.
and he didn't even get to sea cucumbers :D
the visuals were extremely disturbing, i literally only stayed for the laughs. i need to cleanse my palette with cat videos or something lol
@@CatsAndPokemon in that case, do not look up hagfish :D
“With a kind of breaststroke with a leading erection”. Probably the most accurate yet entertaining description I’ve heard regarding movement!!
That's one thing I've always found interesting about these critters: They have a 'top' and a 'bottom' , but no dedicated 'back', 'front' or 'sides'. Unlike almost every other critter on earth...
Well, you tell me where its front is, I genuinely want to know
@@tysonvienneau1830 I'm going with "its wherever they're moving towards is their front"
@@tylervanpeursem7627 the brittle star says hi
Also like jellyfish, anemones, comb jellies, and sponges.
Think of the top and bottom as the front and back. But sometimes they eat from the back. Actually, the top is the back. Maybe.
Thanks!
You sound so enthusiastic this time. You normally have good energy, but I feel like you were more impressed. I liked that. But geez, sea stars are freaking awesome! Who could blame you?
What he didn’t say is that when Sea Stars regenerate their arms they make a sort of butt shape.
This and the Pigs video
This is the most interested I’ve ever heard frank be about an animal. He’s like legitimately blown away by sea stats and it’s fun
As someone who is afraid of spiders, centipedes and pretty much anything with more than four legs, with the fear factor increasing the more legs I see, I now have a whole new appreciation of H.P. Lovecrafts obsession with writing cosmic beings as marine life. These things truly are the stuff of horrible, horrible nightmares.
Great work on the video as always, absolutely love them, and the biology, albeit sheer horror, is fascinating!
Oh thank goodness I thought I was the only one weirded out by star fish lol
@@AR-kl7nv try looking into Siphonophores and be prepared to be truly creeped out
I agree. Seastars are made of nightmare material. And at the same time, how does something this complex manage to exist?
@@IntrovertedBear Well when you have over 550 million years for weird traits and mutations to accumulate into a creature that has to survive, life finds a way.
In any case it's not like it's particularly more complex than you are and you're alive.
I'm not at all claustrophobic, in fact I stuff myself in tiny boxes for fun, but watching footage of the deep sea fills me with claustrophobic dread.
1:48 even sea creatures out here getting BBL’s 😂
Astrobiologist:" We are still searching for aliens."
Marine biologist: " Oh, we encounter them on daily basis."
OMG, I can't believe you got to talk to Chris Mah and actually made an episode about this. I've been addicted to the NOAA and Okeanos dive feeds for years now, so cool to see all the incredible footage with your narration
ha ha. well, you never know where he will show up!
The Seastar having the ability to rehenerate reminds me of a story: there were some people trying to save a coral reef a long time ago, trying to control the seastar population by removing the seastars from the ocean, cutting them into pieces and flinging them back into the ocean. After so long, they had effectively increased the population exponentially, leading to the even faster demise of the reef. Sad, but also kinda funny...
For all our hubris about being the most intelligent species, humans still haven't learned to think things through. First idea we get, we grab onto, slamming our minds shut and attacking anyone who dares to ask any questions. Hence, the destruction of our planet
People are so stupid
rehenerate
@@TheRealFmarty when you're the henny man but don't have enough for tomorrow night's party, it is time to rehenerate.
This reminds me of when india(I think) put a bounty on cobras, so people started breeding cobras to bring in for bounty, and eventually many of them would escape, increasing the cobra population!
the designs nature comes up with are truely marvelous
You have single-handedly made me start the process of becoming a zoologist. Thank you
Wow!! When did you start?? 😁
@@Za3chik a year ago!
"It's a little like: evolution got a model airplane kit. But where the pieces weren't labelled. So there was nothing left to do but sniff the glue and get creative"
That line is pure murder :')
You'd have to be brain dead to believe that this was the result of 'evolution". Something this complex did not happen to evolve from random mutations, God designed and created all this. Nothing else is remotely plausible.
came here to comment on that same line. the 'nothing left to do but sniff the glue and get creative' made me snarf my tea.
one of the many lines from ze that make life worth living.
For all you internet children, ZeFrank has been at this for a LONG time. We watched these in HS Science class all the time. Also studied his stuff in Uni. 😆 He's voiced commercials and tons of stuff. Canadian boi
My favourite video of all time will always be "True Facts about Owls" instant happiness. 👌
I agree. Give the man a show, already. 👏
didnt know about the commercials! cool!
Now I wanna know which commercials he's been
@@candyluna2929 There was one where he voiced a cat for a cat food ad. They're really funny
I knew his voice sounded familiar.
@@kimbrolyy Dear Kitten
This episode was absolutely stunning, and perfectly narrated. I didn't know 95% of what you presented in there. It was such a cool trip to the ocean floor.
Also, what I'll remember for a long time, as a life lesson : "Let it go"
I can't believe it this is only 18 mins long. This had so much plot twists and sharp turns that I almost barfed my stomach out
It's that Southern Comfort
@@tommulder9420 on top of the chili...
"runs away like a mop that finally had enough of your sh*t" is definitely one of the best lines in your videos
You don't assume I'm unknowledgeable.
You don't assume I'm a prude.
You give a simple too understand yet complicated and nuanced explanation of your craft.
You sir are what UA-cam is meant for.
You’ve earned a new sub from me. I just found your videos and not only are they actually educational but also absolutely hilarious. You strike a perfect mix of learning and just goofing off and I absolutely love it
If onlyZefrank had been my biology professor I would have majored in that field, he is a genius!! After listening to him who wouldn’t find this fascinating and remember all of it. Love when he says bebees!!
As a biologist, science hippies definitely checks out. Thank you for the amazing content!
When I heard "it just gets crazier and crazier, right?" I had no idea it would just double in weirdness every passing scene from there on.
That is how the sea star do.
14:25 Had me crying... "not just a little bit of slime either... like a LOT of slime. You should see what it does when it _likes_ you!"
i like how zefrank makes learning about science fun and digestible. My 9th grade science teacher was not nearly as funny as our lovely gentleman here is. I applaud you zefrank!
Be fair to science teachers. It's much easier to make animal facts fun then the more complex subjects generally talked about in a chemistry or biology class.
Oh my God, I had no idea sea stars were such fascinating animals! And some of those close ups looked like something straight out of Alien!
“Beach front property, palm tree, well I guess you are the palm tree.” That got me good! I learned a lot about sea stars!
I started feeling suspicious right at the start when Zefrank told me how they start their lives, but by the time he revealed to me Sea Stars have somehow evolved what amounts to dumb drone swarms, I was sure.
H. P. Lovecraft was right and these things are most definitely descended from some horror from beyond the stars.
Cthulhu!
@@spiritmatter1553 More specifically the Elder Things, perhaps, having five-fold radial symmetry. But yes, right genre
Indeed. and as we can see at 13:50 they are not alone as eldritch oceanic horrors from beyond, as the dreaded cousins of the crab/fungoid Mi-Go or Yeti likewise take part in the evolutionary warfare we see before us.
Never going in the ocean again 💖
the amount of in depth education you present here is insane! you make it fun to watch about topics most people would put away with a simple "boring". Seriously thank you a lot!
I love that you seek out the most obscure facts imaginable to include. It is rare for me to find new data on species these days, but your videos often include a gem or two. The autonomous pedicellaria is a new one for me, super cool.
That was really interesting, but you'd have to be one of the funniest narrators I have seen on UA-cam so far, well done. By the way, I'm keeping, " evolution can do amazing things, if you get it drunk enough ", that's gold.
He started out with that and they just kept coming and getting better. Awesome video. Who knew I needed this to smile.
The starfish being the badassest totally weird thing on the planet was the story I didn't know I needed. Those flying mouth parts of death? Dafuuuuuuq?! 😱 Ze, you are one of the most engaging writers out there, and what you've contributed is meaningful. It's not just entertainment, it's important. It matters. I'm grateful for you.
But there's sex, he includes sex. Do Florida legislatures know about this?
Any one else feel like they live their lives just waiting for zefrank1s uploads lmfao.... every time I get a notification I click on it immediately and get super excited....always makes my day. Hilarious, informative, and highly entertaining....thanks zefrank1 you're amazing 🥰🥰🥰
Yes. And then I immediately have to share it with people who have the same sense of humour as I do! 😂
Me 20 minutes ago: Ooh, a new zefrank video! And it's 18 minutes long!?!
Same same same!
The mass brittlestar orgies that happened in my old marine tank were something to behold. Hundreds of them, all at the same time, climbed to the top of the rocks, thrust their bodies up and simultaneously "let go". Between them and the bristleworms the tank was often cloudy!
you sound like a politician at an orgy in D.C.
Thats what protein skimmers are for lol
My Sister-in-Law is a Marine Biologist. She shall now forever be known as a Sea Hippy. 🤣🤣🤣 This was fascinating and did not disappoint.
Pretty sure he says science hippies, but sea hippies works too lol
@@user-yf6zz3cl8i Hahahaha! You’re right. Oops!
Sea science hippies
Thanks
My grandfather ran an oyster company and just hated sea stars, they are the natural enemy of oysters. They developed a way to specifically get them out of the water.
How?
I'm an Aquaculture student in the Pacific Northwest... I'm just curious.
@@jamieingels1190 ITs been a while, but basically imagine spinning mop-heads underwater
THANK YOU for continuing to make this series! I live in fear (FEAR!) that each video will be the last "True Facts:" and every time I see a new one, I'm SOOO grateful!! Please continue these videos, Mr. Frank - they are so much fun!! ⭐☀⭐
Me too! ....living in fear that they will come to an end!
They are absolutely incredible, and completely unique
The knowledge to hilarity ratio in ZeFrank's videos is insane
Ze Frank please know you cheer me up with each of these videos and I come back to them on the regular when ever I need a good laugh.
This is surely TMI, but as it happens, I was watching this while having a bath. I found it both fascinating and terrifying. However, the kicker came when my foot touched the non-slip baby sticker on my bathtub (which I now ironically realise is a seastar) which recently came loose. I got quite a vivid imagination fright!
😅😅
Imagination frights are the best. Ever be in bed, about to fall asleep, and you forget about a part of yourself and think you brushed against something else in there with you or felt what you thought was someone else's hand holding you?
@@Gigas0101 Ohhhh nooooo!! That would be scary!
My experience is just as I'm falling asleep, I feel I've fallen off a pavement, and wake up with a start!! 😅
Funny how the human mind works eh!
This is the most I've learned in a single video in ages. Apparently, I knew nothing about sea stars, just that we had purple and orange ones on our coast. Holy guacamole, thank you, zefrank.
It's these kinds of nature documentaries that make me want to revive that "All Underwater" DnD campaign idea I had a while back.
Imagine an entire class of monsters, that are just giant, faster sea-stars. In their various forms.
DM: "You are attacked by another giant sea-star. Roll initiative."
Players: "Oh god, what now."
DM: "The sea-star shoots dozens of tiny detached mouths, that try to bite and poison you. Dexterity save AND Constitution save, please."
Players: :(
fucking love it, it's perfect
Thanks for the idea. I love it.
My players will hate it
The sea is full of things that would be horrifying to adventurers if made larger.
Ze, we have been binge watching and rewatching you videos today and it has had us laughing and soaking in so much amazing information. We love your channel and are so thankful for your huge effort and time to entertain us in such a fun way. Thank you so very much!! We are so grateful and appreciate the sore cheeks from smiling. ❤😂❤❤
"breast stroke with a leading erection" is so accurate. Am never going to unsee that each time I see brittle stars now
Also sounds like some guys navigating in a bar 😂
@@hannahcollins1816 oh my god 😂😂😂 calling those kind of guys as brittle stars seems so right, too
@@hannahmariehisug4575 100% yes!! I didn't even think of that, but from now on, that's gonna be what I think 😂 man, we Hannahs are witty!
“It looks like a bag of evidence from when they finally arrest the tooth fairy”
I want to smoke whatever Ze Frank was smoking when he came up with this line
Thank you zefrank. Your timing is impeccable as we are getting ready to learn about echinoderms. With a little well-timed muting, I'm showing this to my Zoology class on Monday.
You offer the best scientific content ever.
I can't ... the learning ... the humor ...
The best ever.
That's all.
11:30 "Be not afraid" the starfish says with a loud rumbling voice while approaching you slowly. But the voice does not appear to come out of its mouth...
bonus fact: when I was in college level biology and doing disections, we had to dissect several animals to understand them of course
and I must say based on smell alone, the starfish was by far the worst
and that, is a fact
The insides of ours looked like something you got from taco bell... Couldn't eat tacos or burritos for weeks.
And that, is a personal judgement, not a fact
Does it smell like rotten fish? Dead meat? Puke pile?
What a great way to cheer us up! Thank you Ze!
0:46 "finally" those little details and chats with jerry are the things that make your videos all the more glorious.
road to 4m?
"Where there's nothing to do but sniff the glue and get creative."
ZeFrank? Have you been watching me? How did you know this is my technique for kitbashing in model railroading?
What messes me up is that, outside of other chordates, these are the invertebrates most closely related to us. More than bugs or worms. These are our closest squishy no-spine having cousins. Like what the hell
Learning that in biology started messing with my head lol.
I'm genuinely surprised that this comment doesn't have some creationist christian apologist nonsense in the replies. Maybe I'm underestimating the quality of Zefrank viewers based on my experiences with the population at large, or at least in the Southern US. Also I didn't know that, it's kind of...well, it sure is something.
When we dissected sea stars in my HS Biology class, it was at a small private Christian school in Alabama--and of course humans are the beloved of God and nothing descended from anything, so I'm not surprised that interesting little nugget didn't make it into the lesson plan.
I don't know why "these are our closest squishy no-spine having cousins" cracked me the fuck up
Well, not quite. There's another phylum of animals called hemichordates that are more closely related to echinoderms than chordates are to them, therefore making hemichordates equally as distantly related to us as echinoderms are.
The amount of research that went into this one was stunning. I really enjoyed watching it develop.