Bro, According To Genetics You’re 70% Related To This Worm That Looks Like A Dildo

The Acorn Worm lives on the ocean floor, looks like a cross between a dildo and an eagle claw, and according to genetics it is a distant relative of human beings. Scientists have discovered that humans share 70% of their genetic make up with acorn worms. That’s roughly 14,000 genes that we humans share with this dildoesque worm.

Here’s the acorn worm doing weird worm things and looking like a malformed penis:

OIST reports:

As with anatomical structures, genes homology is defined in terms of shared ancestry. Because of later gene duplications and other processes, these 8,600 homologous genes correspond to at least 14,000 genes, or approximately 70%, of the current human genome.

The study also identified clusters of genes that are close together in acorn worm genomes and in the genomes of humans and other vertebrates. The ancient proximity of these gene clusters, preserved over half a billion years, suggests that the genes may function as a unit. One gene cluster connected with the development of the pharynx in vertebrates and acorn worms is particularly interesting.

It is shared by all deuterostomes, but not present in non-deuterostome animals such as insects, octopuses, earthworms and flatworms. The pharynx of acorn worms and other animals functions to filter food and to guide it to the digestive system. In humans, this cluster is active in the formation of the thyroid glands and the pharynx. Scientists suggest there is a connection between the function of the modern thyroid and the filter feeding mechanism of acorn worms.

This means that the Acorn Worm is our closest worm cousin, so since it’s basically family it’s totally cool for us to make fun of this worm for looking like a misshapen dong.

I’m having trouble deciding if the Acorn Worm looks more like a single sperm, a dildo, or the claw of a velociraptor. After staring at photos of this weird worm for the past 30 minutes I’m convinced it’s somewhere between velociraptor claw and dildo, but I just can’t make my mind up.

I need you bros to help me make my mind up by providing some feedback down below in the comments: does it look most like (a) a single sperm, (b) a dildo, or (c) a velociraptor claw.

And for more on this story you can click on over to OIST to read ‘Our Closest Wormy Cousins‘ or check out the DailyMail’s write up by clicking here.