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Re:Giant Pacific Octopus by watersb on Friday September 18, 2020 @07:40PM (#24522951)
Teleology != Ontology

There doesn't have to be a use for an evolutionary trait. It can be an utterly useless feature. The fact that it persists in this fleeting moment we co-exist with it in this particular million years, only shows that a feature hasn't been rendered extinct. Yet.

But of course, I believe that biologists can construct a cladistic tree that can calibrate how long a particular trait might have been around.

Re:Giant Pacific Octopus by howlgarnish on Friday September 18, 2020 @08:33PM (#24523466)
Odds are it continues to serve some useful purpose though. Us humans have a whole lot of useful organs, and only one vestigial appendix.
Re:Giant Pacific Octopus by robocat on Saturday September 19, 2020 @03:00AM (#24525720)