Instead, the authors think the males may have mounted the females , who were lying on their sides, and pressed down on the females’ tails during mating, accidentally breaking the neural spines.
—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
4 Nov. 2025
Their characteristic projecting spines serve both as flotation modulators (via a complex process akin to raising and lowering protoplasmic sails) and as masts permitting the cell to extend itself outward into the surrounding water and feed.
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