Peabody Museum: Shaped to Kill: The Evolution of Secret Weapons

What we know about open-ocean predators can reveal new patterns and mechanisms in the evolution of the ocean’s food web. A fascinating group of unique carnivorous marine animals called siphonophores, close relatives of the common jellyfish, are specialized individuals that live together as a colonial “superorganism.” Researcher Alejandro Damian-Serrano will share how their unique way of hunting is their “secret weapon”: they can change their complex sets of stinging cells to capture specific prey, an adaptation that challenges our assumption that specialization is an evolutionary dead end.