this feels kinda silly, like surely we’re the ones defining what the head is here? head and body doesn’t make sense for a starfish, it’s like asking where the head of a potato is
No, it’s not English semantics they are using here. It’s DNA semantics. They looked for DNA markers and gene expression to define what is head or tail of various animals, and found that most of the starfish expressed those similarly to the head of other animals.
So somebody went and looked at its genetic structure, and compared its structure as it developed from larva and found that each of the limbs (if I understand it correctly) are all head (or heads,) and the tail disappears.
this feels kinda silly, like surely we’re the ones defining what the head is here? head and body doesn’t make sense for a starfish, it’s like asking where the head of a potato is
No, it’s not English semantics they are using here. It’s DNA semantics. They looked for DNA markers and gene expression to define what is head or tail of various animals, and found that most of the starfish expressed those similarly to the head of other animals.
So somebody went and looked at its genetic structure, and compared its structure as it developed from larva and found that each of the limbs (if I understand it correctly) are all head (or heads,) and the tail disappears.
they talk about it here for normies like me. the starfish thing starts at 2:15