For years, debate had raged over whether the first to diverge was the sea sponge or the comb jelly.
Which means that we have a winner! The sister to all other animals, the first to branch off, and the most genetically isolated animal is … drumroll please … the comb jelly!
Even then, it's much more likely that many other types of animals diverged earlier, and simply left no ancestors. Comb jellies are merely the first to have left surviving descendants for this long.
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