#tunicates
If I said these creatures were our distant cousins, would you believe me? Well, they are!
About 3,000 tunicate species are found in salt water habitats throughout the world. Although tunicates are invertebrates (animals without backbones) found in the subphylum Tunicata (sometimes called Urochordata), they are part of the Phylum Chordata, which also includes animals with backbones, like us.
https://ocean.si.edu/tunicates-not-so-spineless-invertebrates
Photo Credit: Ian Davidson, Smithsonian
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Spirals of electric blue pigment, created by granules suspended within the
translucent bodies of these colonial tunicates, create the underwater
equivalent of a sparkly light show, brightening up the reef on which
they live. (Photograph: Rob Darmanin)
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