Here are some of the most interesting facts about The Living Rock!
Wait until you find out how this thing actually tastes!
9 - What Is It?
So what exactly IS this thing?
Is this rock actually alive and breathing?!
Actually, yes!
This “rock” actually is a living creature called Pyura chilensis!
It’s an interestingly bizarre sea creature also known as the Living Rock!
The Living Rock is a type of tunicate.
Tunicates are sea creatures named after their thick exteriors or 'tunics' made from tunicin.
That’s exactly what makes them look like a rock.
It’s a hardy matrix of cellulose-like material that helps them attach to a hard surface.
Basically, they don’t move, and wherever they attach, that’s where they'll remain
for the rest of their lives!
These guys may look like rocks, but they’re alive.
The insides of this tunicate are lined with a layer of skin AND a muscular band.
Inside of these layers is the main body of this animal.
In general, tunicates, live attached to a hard surface on the ocean floor, just like
the living rock.
They’re commonly known as sea squirts.
8 - Sea Squirts And while we’re talking about sea squirts,
you’re probably wondering what they are.
Well, a sea squirt looks a lot like a plant, but it’s definitely an animal.
Sea squirts are more scientifically known as tunicates or ascidians.
Surprisingly, these animals are in the same phylum we are.
That’s the phylum Chordata, which includes humans, whales, sharks, and fish.
There are over 2,000 species of sea squirts, and they’re found throughout the world.
Some species are solitary, while some form large colonies.
Sea squirts attach to things such as piers, docks, boats, rocks, and basically any hard
surface where they have access to the resources they need!
So what exactly do they need?
Well, definitely some seawater.
Sea squirts have two siphons because they’re filter feeders.
They use one inhalant siphon to pull seawater into their body to feed on algae and microorganisms.
Then they have an exhalant siphon, which they use to expel that same seawater out and whatever
waste they don’t need.
When someone picks up a sea squirt, sometimes they’ll forcefully eject water from its
siphon.
And THAT’S how these creatures got its name.
So if you pick one up from the water, you may get a wet surprise!
7 - Location So where are most of these guys found?
These guys are often found in dense aggregations off the coasts of Chile and Peru.
Also known as Piure in Spanish, the Rock was first described in 1782 by Juan Ignacio Molina.
Off the Chilean coast, the living Rock is actually heavily fished.
It actually happens to be one of the main food sources for other local species, such
as the Chilean abalone.
The number of Chilean abalone grew so much, they’ve threatened to wipe out the Living
Rock and severely restricted their growth for more than two decades!
It really doesn’t take much to fish the Rock.
Many locals use just a basic wetsuit and goggles to get to them, mostly in rocky areas close
to shore but occasionally farther out to sea.
6 - Local Delicacy Apparently, locals are pretty big into eating
the living Rock.
It’s one of Chile’s oldest and most controversial delicacies.
Fishermen typically cut the Rock into slices with a handsaw.
Then they use their fingers to pull out the siphons because it’s probably not tasty
to eat?
That’s what we’re guessing.
And since you can either eat the living rock raw or cooked, the options are kinda unlimited.
Apparently these guys are pretty polarizing.
One famous Chilean chef, Rodolfo Guzmán, claims that half of Chile love the taste,
and the other half hates it!
Traditionally the living rock is served raw, topped with freshly squeezed lemon.
Another popular way is combining it raw with chopped onion, cilantro, green onion, salt,
oil, and lemon juice, and basically it’s kinda like salsa.
It also serves as an element for many dishes when it’s chopped up and boiled.
It’s also fried and eaten on bread!
In the south of Chile, it’s common to find dried and smoked piure links that are used
in soups and stews hanging in food markets.
Word has it, the living rock has a preeeeeetty strong flavor.
Its taste has been described as that of iodine or something bitter and soapy.
People have described its taste as oysters and sea urchin mixed in one.
And then allowed to ferment, to get a VERY concentrated taste of the sea in one bite.
Ugggggggh!
Because of its high level of vanadium, and the element's toxicity, there are concerns
about eating the creature but we’ll get to that a bit later.
5 - Import Export The living rock definitely doesn’t sound
like something we’d eat, but we’d definitely just give it a shot out of curiosity.
But, chileans are not the only people who enjoy the taste of these guys.
The Living Rock – either raw or canned – is shipped to many different countries around
the globe.
The biggest global consumers are Sweden and Japan!
Sweden represents 32.5% of all exports, and Japan is second at 24.2%.
The Living Rock is also known for its let’s call it, lasting effects!
Pretty much like oysters, and cheaper than taking that little blue pill!
Maybe Sweden and Japan are onto something?
Again, as far as the taste goes, it’s again, absolutely weird.
Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre foods calls it one of the most horrifying things he’d ever
seen or eaten in his entire life!
He described it as quote, “Frightening, absolutely frightening“ and he also said
that he’ll never forget the experience!
You’ll definitely want to check out our video on the most dangerous foods people actually
eat!
4 - Independent Rocks Like we said earlier, the Living Rock is often
found in densely packed colonies either really close to the shore or far out in the sea.
This is believed to make reproducing much easier for them, but if they somehow do end
up on their own, they've figured out a pretty genius way to bypass the whole problem altogether.
Since they can’t move and they’re pretty much stuck to whatever piece of real estate
they choose, they had to find a way to reproduce.
And indeed they have.
They’re able to reproduce with themselves if they need to!
Well, how does that happen?
Amazingly enough, they can release BOTH eggs and sperm simultaneously!
And if the sperm-egg collisions are successful, they’ll produce tiny tadpole-like offspring
that will eventually settle onto a rock to grow into adults.
Nature had to find a way to make things work for them.
So these guys are born with male parts but grow female parts in adolescence.
And that’s how nature figured that problem out!
In 2005, biologists from Chile wanted to find out how these guys reproduced.
First, the isolated individuals were placed in plastic bottles, and were left alone for
90 days.
Next, the researchers combined pairs either from the same population, or from two different
populations, to see how well they would breed in comparison.
After their observations, they gave their self-breeding behavior the perfect name of
quote "selfing".
The study also confirmed that if these guys were given a choice between “selfing”
or cross breeding with another living rock, well, cross breeding it is!
So selfing was born out of necessity.
Apparently cross-fertilization is just a bit quicker and more successful for them.
If they do breed with another Living Rock, they create more living rock babies that way.
Scientists speculate that colonies of thousands and thousands of Rocks can breed just out
of a single Rock!
This suggests that when stuck alone in the ocean, selfing provides an opportunity for
loner Rock individuals to still pass on their genes and keep the species going strong.
3 - It’s not Blood It’s worth noting, though, that the red
thing you’re seeing actually ISN’T blood.
The liquid on the inside is clear.
The most interesting fact is that, for unknown reasons, the living rock has extremely high
concentrations of a rare chemical called vanadium.
The red that you see when its opened up is actually just the color of the tissue.
Living rocks have a very minimal nervous system, no central brain, and no actual visible blood.
The concentration of vanadium in the living Rock and other tunicates can be up to 10 million
times that of surrounding seawater.
In fact, sea squirts have been found to be the only organisms in the animal kingdom to
accumulate high levels of vanadium in their plasma, and researchers aren’t sure what
the function of this element has in these animals.
Because of the high levels of vanadium, there are concerns about the safety of eating large
amounts of living rock.
Vanadium is a heavy metal and just like any other element, too much of it does pose a
health risk.
Vanadium is generally used along with steel to make stronger tools!
The average diet provides trace amounts of vanadium and high doses of vanadium may cause
liver damage.
However, no in-depth studies have ever been done to determine the health effects.
But one thing we do know is that locals have been eating the living Rock for centuries
on end without serious health effects!
2 - Vanadium We might as well get a bit more in depth into
Vanadium since we’re on the subject.
It’s a medium-hard, steel-blue metal.
Although it’s not that famous as a metal, it’s actually quite valuable in the manufacturing
industry because of its malleability, and its corrosion-resistant qualities.
Vanadium rarely exists as a free element in nature.
It’s found in around 65 different minerals.
As we mentioned earlier, vanadium-steel alloys are used to make extremely tough tools such
as axles, armor plates, car gears, springs, and cutting tools.
Vanadium alloys are even used to make nuclear reactors because of their low-neutron-absorbing
properties!
High doses of vanadium are toxic to us, but scientists think we still need the element
in very small amounts for normal bone growth.
Vanadium can be found in trace amounts in many types of food, such as mushrooms, black
pepper, parsley, and dill weed.
When we eat a balanced diet, we consume just 0.01 milligrams per day, and this is more
than enough for our biological needs.
So how are the guys in Peru and Chile eating the Living Rock with that much vanadium in
it?!
1 - Camouflaged For most people, if they saw a living rock
on the beach, they wouldn’t even think twice wondering whether or not this crazy animal
is edible.
It certainly doesn’t even look edible, much less alive, from its appearance on the outside.
And when it's opened up, its bright red interior might make people think that it’s poisonous.
Brightly colored animals are often poisonous or venomous.
These colors often act as a warning sign to other animals in search of food.
Watch this next video to find out about the most dangerous foods people actually eat!