Would you guess that these jelly-like organisms are more closely related to humans than they are to jellyfish?

Sea salps are tunicates and members of the phylum Chordata, which also encompasses vertebrates and cephalochordates. Jellyfish, on the other hand, are a part of the phylum Cnidaria, which includes the likes of corals and sea anemones. There are more than 45 species of salps that inhabit much of the world’s oceans. As filter feeders, they mainly consume phytoplankton but will also snack on other tiny particles that might float their way. Salps eat by pumping water into their mouths and out of their atrial openings, propelling themselves as they feed.

Photo: Lars Plougmann, CC BY-SA 2.0, flickr

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