A team of scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University has released a hypothesis explaining the lack of insects in our oceans.
While insects are abundant on land, the situation in the ocean is vastly different, with very few insects in the earth’s seas.
According to the hypothesis, the main cause of this is the chemical mechanism that causes insect shells to harden. This mechanism uses an enzyme called multicopper oxidase-2 (MCO2) and molecular oxygen. However, in an aquatic environment, this mechanism puts insects at a disadvantage and plays a negative evolutionary role.
The researchers believe the problems with the process are due to the lack of oxygen in seawater compared to air and the shell-hardening process itself. Both factors combined have meant that very few insects have met the challenges faced of evolving in multiple environments.
You can find the original research here.
