By Joe Pinkstone For Mailonline
Published: 16:32 GMT, 6 March 2019 | Updated: 16:33 GMT, 6 March 2019
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An animal that creates a new anus every time it needs to defecate has been discovered by scientists.
The primitive creature, called a warty comb jelly, does not have a permanent orifice for removing waste and instead produces a tiny opening that disappears as soon as the process has concluded.
Animals have previously been discovered with several anuses and even some that defecate out their mouth.
But the 'transient' anus trait is thought to be unique in the animal kingdom.
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The primitive creature, called a warty comb jelly (pictured), does not have a permanent orifice for removing waste and instead produce a tiny opening that rapidly disappears as soon as it has finished its business (stock)
Comb jellies resemble jellyfish but are actually members of the unrelated ctenophore group.
Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, published the research in Invertebrate Biology.
It was already known that they have a digestive system which is made of a separate mouth and anus.
But Dr Tamm was unable to find the permanent anus of the Mnemiopsis leidyi.
'That is the really spectacular finding here,' Dr Tamm told New Scientist.
'There is no documentation of a transient anus in any other animals that I know of.'
Analysis of the animals revealed a tiny hole opens when it defecates and is instantly erased.
Even under the microscope there is no sign of the orifice.
'It is not visible when the animal is not pooping,' Dr Tamm said.
'There's no trace under the microscope. It's invisible to me.'
The animal's guts
