Column: Sea squirts — our long lost relatives

TIMES RECORD • August 20, 2020

They actually squirt when you squeeze them, as their name implies. But, they’re much more complicated creatures than you might think. And they are more closely related to humans than many animals that live in the ocean. Sea squirts are these strange, glassy little sacs that somewhere in their tiny soft bodies have a kind of a simple dorsal nerve or chord. That’s what defines the phylum Chordata, which also includes humans. ~ Susan Olcott