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Are you serious? They really have what amounts to an exoskeleton? Or maybe it’s more accurate to call it a whole-body rib cage?
Just searched and found this fun article. Not really a skeleton but a collection of really stiff hairs or feathers (loosely: the genes are the same ones responsible for “other skin appendages” in vertebrates).
Looks like it’s fake. This research paper shows a more normal skeleton, though they do apparently lack ribs and a pelvis.
I think it’s just inaccurately labeled as a skeleton. These appear to be skin spikes. https://www.cell.com/iscience/pdf/S2589-0042(19)30185-3.pdf
Interesting. That page says “few vertebrae”, but the image makes it look to me like a full set.
On the other hand, if I found an animal with no ribs and pelvis and only the rudimentary limbs typically found in fish, I’d tend to say that the skeleton was missing. Or at least, ahem, skeletal.
Thanks. My first impression was that there was some funny business, but then I found what I thought was a decent article.
It’s made of caltrops!
Permanently deleted
Hahaha a living bucky ball. I didn’t know I needed to see this.
Today I learned that they have bones around their tummy!
