Weirder Than You Think – a poem by Kate Rauner

Ctenophores of oceans wide,

Iridescent jellies,

Are carnivores of tiny prey,

A swimming mouth and belly.

It’s shaken up our notions

Of how animals evolved

A complex nervous system,

Gives a problem to be solved.

It’s missing genes essential

To build its neural net,

And uses different chemicals

To transmit signals, yet,

It has, for half a billion years

Evolved in its own way,

And left its progeny so strange

To puzzle us today.

Thanks to National Geographic and Doubtful News

Illustration from NOAA, Public Domain