The Strange But Incredible Immortal Jellyfish

On of the most incredible organisms living in the oceans of planet Earth is the Turritopsis Dohrnii more popularly known as the immortal jellyfish Watch the video to find out why REMEMBER TO SUBSCRIBE FOR MUCH MORE TO COME Subscribe - a https 3A 2F 2Fwww youtube com 2Fc 2FV101Science a Facebook - a https 3A 2F 2Fwww facebook com 2FV101Science a Twitter - a https 3A 2F 2Ftwitter com 2FV101Science a Instagram - a https 3A 2F 2Fwww instagram com 2Fv101 science 2F a --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Script - It is a tiny transparent jellyfish that was first discovered in the 1880s in the Mediterranean Sea but can be found in many oceans around the world But what makes this strange almost alien like creature so incredible is that it is biological immortal this means that the creature can be killed but doesn't seem to die from old age Most jellyfish species have a relatively fixed life-span which varies by species from hours to many months but this jellyfish is capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature stage after having reached maturity Which is kind of like a butterfly changing back to a caterpillar instead of dying The immortal jellyfish begins it life as a larva called a planula The planula settles on the sea floor and grows into a cylindrical colony of polyps These polyps then spawn genetically identical jellyfish which over a matter of weeks grow into adults When fully grown they are still tiny around 4 5mm across but they seem to have an incredible skill When they become threatened by physical injury or even starvation the creatures can transform back into a juvenile polyp by retracting there tentacles shrinking there bodies and sinking to the ocean floor to start the cycle all over again Over time new genetically identical clones of the original jellyfish are released from the polyp in to the sea and incredibly these can also transform back if threatened meaning that the process can be repeated over and over again However this remarkable ability doesn't mean that they cannot be harmed many Turritopsis Dohrnii fall victim to the general hazards of life in the sea including being eaten by predators or succumbing to disease Since the discover of the immortal jellyfish many Scientists have been fascinated by the creatures ability which is called transdifferentiation The natural process has inspired many researchers to hopefully find a way of using stem cells to renew damaged or dead tissue in humans So one day in the future humans may live for hundreds or even thousands of years and it may well be achieved because the research that went in to tiny blob we know as the immortal jellyfish Attributions - Jellyfish-High Frequency Media Caterpillar to Butterfly-Your Family Farmer Born of Baby Jellyfish- budding Polyp release Ephyra immortal youth reverting jellyfish - Dr John and Music - Floating Cities - Incompetech Kevin MacLeod incompetech com Licensed under Creative Commons By Attribution 3 0 a http 3A 2F 2Fcreativecommons org 2Flicenses 2Fby 2F3 0 2F a

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