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Although one could hardly tell by looking at their squishy bodies, sea squirts are also part of the phylum of chordates—the group of animals that include fish, birds, reptiles, and mammals! But, unlike humans, sea squirts don’t keep their brains and spinal cords forever. The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable home— a rock or hunk of coral to cling to. For this, it has a rudimentary nervous system. But, being permanently attached to a home makes the sea squirt’s spinal cord and the neurons that control locomotion superfluous. So, when it finds its spot and takes root, in other words stops moving, its brain is absorbed by its body.