Animal with the most genes? A tiny crustacean: First crustacean genome sequenced
Thursday, February 3, 2011 - 14:33
in Biology & Nature
Complexity ever in the eye of its beholders, the animal with the most genes -- about 31,000 -- is the near-microscopic freshwater crustacean Daphnia pulex, or water flea. By comparison, humans have about 23,000 genes. Daphnia is the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced.