Sea spiders can regrow body parts – and not just their limbs, says a new study.
"Nobody had expected this," says Gerhard Scholtz of Humboldt University. "We are the first to show that this is possible."
It is well known that many creatures – such as centipedes, spiders and insects – can regrow limbs after losing one.
"Crabs can even get rid of a limb if they are attacked," Gerhard says. "They replace it with a new limb."
But what the scientists discovered is that the tiny eight-legged sea spiders are able to regrow body parts other than limbs.
"Maybe the mechanisms we detect in sea spiders may help medical treatments of limb loss or finger loss in humans," Gerhard says. "This is always the hope."
