Art in Endoscopy: Natural analogies

Fig. 1 Papilla with impacted stone.

This papilla with an impacted stone was observed during ERCP. The image was so extraordinary that we wondered whether any similar image might exist in nature. We therefore contacted an expert in the biological field, Dr. Conxita Avila from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, and Biodiversity Research Institute (IrBIO), University of Barcelona. She replied that our image was certainly reminiscent of a marine animal, for example a sponge. There are curious analogies amongst biological forms, as Ernst Haeckel said in his book Kunstformen der Natur [Art Forms in Nature]. Our image of the papilla resembles this one of the Caribbean sponge, Mycale laxissima, https://spongeguide.uncw.edu/imageinfo.php?img=319 (photographer Sven Zea; The Sponge Guide, Universidad Nacional de Colombia).

Francesc Bas-Cutrina, Sandra Maisterra, and Joan B. Gornals, Barcelona, Spain

Publication History

Article published online:
29 March 2021