A beautiful illustration of a plant cell by Russell Kightley
From: a biology nerd and friends. Velvet Worm - Slime Guns The
velvet worm - among the phylum, Onychophora - hunts by shooting
fast drying adhesive at its prey and yes, I know what you’re
thinking. The segmented worm-like organism can range from 0.5 to
20cm long and slime glands are located in the center region of
the body making up about 11% of the total body weight in slime
which is made mostly of water and some proteins. In order to
detect prey it senses slight changes in air currents with bumps
on its skin and chemical sensors on its antennae to let them
essentially taste something to determine if its food. When a
prey item is eventually encountered, the slime is forcefully
squirted through oral papillae near the head and launched up to
30cm in a sort of spray-and-pray manner. Once the slime contacts
the victim, it quickly dries ensnaring it, where now the worm
then seeks to eat the organism by injecting its saliva and
digestive enzymes turning