Scientists claim that we are all descendants of sea sponges

Recent research reveals that sponges or poriferous are the oldest ancestors of all living organisms.

The study was published in the journal Current Biology by Professor Davide Pisani of the University of Bristol (United Kingdom) and colleagues from the University of Munich (Germany) and the Technological Institute of California (USA), among others.

Until now scientists debated which species came first: the cited sponges or the ctenophores - also known as "comb bearers" -, which are marine and bioluminescent species similar to jellyfish. The sponges are morphologically simpler; the ctenophores are filtering animals and practically unable to move.

To solve the puzzle, the professor at the University of Bristol and his team analyzed numerous genomic data from 2015 to 2017 to reach the conclusion that the evolutionary models that claim that the oldest animal life on the planet is the sponge marine are scientifically more correct and detailed.

Pisani affirms that the discovery is fundamental to understand the evolution of human beings, picks up the University of Bristol. "Depending on whether sponges or ctenophores first appeared, absolutely different evolutionary histories emerge for the organ systems, such as the nervous and digestive, of key animals," notes the aforementioned professor.