Oikopleura

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Oikopleura is a genus of urchordates in the class Appendicularia. It forms a mucus house every four hours at 20 degrees Celsius. This house has a coarse mesh to keep out big particles, and a fine mesh that collects the small particles, down to the nanoplankton that includes (pelagic) bacteria.

Abandoned mucus houses sink to the deep, collecting organic particles on their descent, and form an important contribution to marine snow, since Oikopleura is abundant and it is a very active filterer, using powerful strokes of its tail. Its abundance is less obvious from preserved samples (that are usually analysed) because the gelatinous body disappears in the preservation process while leaving hardly any trace.

It has only about 15,000 genes.

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