The following applies to sea anemone larvae: exercise in moderation to stay fit

About the episode

For people, movement influences our form, but wouldn’t movement have an influence much earlier?

To find the answer to this question, researchers turned to sea anemones. The animals appear to behave like larvae. The load on the muscles should be right to finally get the right shape.

We humans use our bones and muscles for exercise, but sea anemone larvae use a combination of muscle tissue and water-filled spaces. Interestingly, the researchers found that larvae that exercise very hard actually grow very slowly and vice versa: if there is moderate exercise, the larvae grow faster. Although exercise is necessary to get muscles in shape, it only goes hand in hand with growth if the proportions are right.

Now, it would be interesting to see how come there are different levels of sport in the first place and how exactly movement is converted into growth. Also because many of our own organs have tube-like structures and the flow of fluids plays a major role in their development.

Read more: Does exercise stimulate development? In the sea anemone, how you move matters.