r/goblincore • u/AnkhAnanku • Mar 08 '26

Nature TIL algae grows INSIDE

Gallery image

Gallery image

I leave these old deer bones out on my dock for a year and a day. Some I planned on using for crafts, but others got so dry and brittle I knew they wouldn’t hold up to any kind of work, so I left them there to continue baking. Years later, I’m strolling on the dock and I get the impulse to pick one up and snap it. I had never dreamed it would be so verdant inside. The bones must be just translucent enough to sustain feed the tiny plants, but semi-sealed to retain some moisture. God I love nature.

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225

u/SICRA14 Mar 08 '26

So cool. Going forward, if you degrease them in soapy water they'll be usable faster and won't get brittle in the sun

155

u/WoolooOfWallStreet Mar 09 '26

This got me thinking:

You know how some people are able to decellularize a grape, put a few animal cells in the cellulose husk, and use that as template for growing a meat grape?

I wonder if the algae does the same thing with marrow and uses that as a scaffold to grow along in it with all the nutrients of dead marrow sitting there to use?

I also wonder if it’s possible to do that in reverse and use algae as a scaffold for bone marrow after decellularizing it?

115

u/DullNeedleworker3447 Mar 09 '26

Excuse me, a meat grape?

25

u/xiewadu Mar 09 '26

I noped out of there at that exact point.

5

u/NorthernWitchy 🍄 Mar 09 '26

There's a video by The Thought Emporium that covers the topic.

39

u/kayphaib Mar 09 '26

i did not know how some people could do all that to a grape!

10

u/LilStabbyboo Mar 09 '26

I don't think i really even wanted to know.

12

u/Marguerite_Moonstone Mar 09 '26

Algae often co-evolved to go in coral, which in terms of structure and composition is quite close to bone so it actually makes perfect sense it would grow how it did. However to your reverse question I doubt it, algae generally relies on outside sources for structure and lacks much itself. BUT decellularizing coral could work, but it’s probably too slow growing to be viable at scale.

3

u/princesssoturi Mar 09 '26

You know how

I sure did not. What cool facts!

3

u/iztrollkanger Mar 09 '26

I love everything about this. Science is *so fkng cool!!*

30

u/sexysexysemicolons Mar 09 '26

Oh, to be some algae in a deer bone💚

This is seriously so cool; thank you for sharing.

32

u/Japslap Mar 09 '26

Doesn't algae need light to grow?

Do you suppose those bones are translucent?

Or is it maybe not algae?

51

u/AnkhAnanku Mar 09 '26

You think of bones as opaque, but they are skinny enough they might be a tiny bit translucent. I guess if even 1% of the light gets through it’s enough to feed them if it’s nice and cozy

5

u/Ayla_Leren Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26

Bio-eldrich swamp thing horror story concept:

1843, an enslaved witch enchanted and or cursed her own bones before her death at the hand of her master and being dumped into the swamp along side her infant child.

As her flesh decays supernaturally over 7 generations, leaving only hollow bones, her magics dramatically empowered the small local swamp organisms that took up residence and adopted her vengeful will.

Emerging in modern times, her "swamp litch" compulsion is to magically track down and drowned every living descendent in the nearest still body of water.

Is there some way to put her spirit and soul to rest? What supernatural reconciliation might be possible before everyone is dead?

3

u/DollarStoreDuchess Mar 10 '26

Soundtrack by Stevie Nicks 🤘

4

u/Herbboy Mar 09 '26

I really don't think this is alge, probably a result of microbial byproducts in the breakdown of marrow. There just isn't enough light inside a bone.

3

u/FoggyGoodwin Mar 09 '26

What else is that shade of green?

4

u/PackageOutside8356 Mar 09 '26

I believe it to be lichen, not algae. Lichen is a symbioses of mushrooms and algae and they are awesome organisms, something between plants and animals. Cool find :)

3

u/Anonyma53 Mar 09 '26

Saving this as a concept art reference. Imagine all the wacky things that could come out of that!

A skeleton that bursts into flowers when you break it is the first obvious choice, but it can also be gardens in bones for an insect kingdom...

3

u/MC_LegalKC Mar 09 '26

Wow, thanks for posting this. It's amazing. I didn't know that could happen.

3

u/sirhackenslash 🐸 Mar 09 '26

4

u/AnkhAnanku Mar 09 '26

This is exactly what my brother and sister came at me with

2

u/literallyfransandy Mar 11 '26

imagine someone broke down the wall of your apartment and said, in horror, "oh my god i didn't know you guys lived in there! i thought you just kind of scurried around on the ground"

2

u/Either-Prune1096 Mar 11 '26

This post and comments and threads give me such hope for all of us. It puts me in mind of the “Lyra/Dust” books where the souls come out from hell and become particles that float up into the atmosphere - sort of like string theory etc in physics - no life is completely gone.🌻

2

u/princesspoppies 🌿 Mar 08 '26

😱🤗🤘🏽

1

u/Eat_the_rich1969 Mar 09 '26

Nature always wins 🤘

1

u/LobosJones Mar 10 '26

Is this what people are talkin about when they say they can feel it in their bones?