A rock has never looked this gruesome.
Well, it's not technically a rock-it's a sea-dwelling creature called Pyura chilensis that looks exactly like a rock on the outside, but once cracked apart, reveals an otherworldly thing filled with with red, bleeding innards separated into different compartments.
Yes, this guy is a living, breathing organism-like a rock, it is completely immobile, but takes in nutrients by siphoning in water and filtering out microorganisms, according to Grist.
Its glossy, clear blood ensconces a mineral called vanadium, usually found in crude oil and tar sands.
Further adding to this creature's oddity is the fact that it's born male, turns hermaphroditic during puberty and reproduces by shooting plumes of egg and sperm into the water. When they hit, another one of these unearthly organisms enters the world.
Pyura chilensis can be found off the coasts of Chile and Peru. There, residents eat the rock-like creature either raw with salad and rice, or in stews.
According to Grist, first-timers to the delicacy described the taste as "bitter", "soapy," with a "weird iodine flavor."
Scientific American recently blogged about the curious organism, calling it "the closest thing to getting blood from a stone."
"Despite appearances, this is not some kind of cruelly bisected alien stone organism or a tomato thunderegg," the publication reported. "P. chilensis belongs to the Ascidiacea class of non-moving, sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders that are otherwise known as sea squirts."
P. chilensis is usually found in tightly crowded groups of thousands, or else in packs of just a few. Sometimes, they roll solo as well-in that instance, they use their asexual reproduction to make a small, tadpole-looking babies that grow into the form of a rock-like adult.
