Meet the Jellyfish That Might Live Forever: Know A Fun Fact About This Marine Life

Immortal Jellyfish: The species of jellyfish that most likely live forever is the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii, which has fascinated scientists and the public alike for its incredible capacity to theoretically live indefinitely. Over the years, it has been labelled as the immortal jellyfish. This small jellyfish is unlike most other organisms that grow and perish. It can reverse its cells back into a previous stage of its life cycle when it is subjected to stress or injury, and can surprisingly reset its biological clock. As per popular belief, these jellyfish originated in the Mediterranean Sea. It is also fascinating to note that Turritopsis dohrnii is roughly the size of a fingernail and transparent, and can be easily missed in the ocean.

The Fun Fact About Turritopsis Dohrnii:

The Turritopsis Dohrnii’s ability to regenerate itself is known as cellular transdifferentiation, which makes it a remarkable creature. It uses this capability, when faced with unfavourable circumstances, like physical harm or starvation, this jellyfish can reverse its adult medusa form back into a younger polyp stage. This, in effect, goes against the nature of ageing and helps the jellyfish to begin its life cycle once again.

The biological mechanism for the process is a matter of transformation of a specialised cell into another type, allowing the jellyfish to regenerate damaged tissue and recycle its lifecycle repeatedly, according to the National History Museum data.

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However, it is also important to note that this capability of immortal jellyfish does not imply that jellyfish are necessarily immortal. Challenges like Predation, disease, and natural causes can still kill this species of Jellyfish. Do you know jellyfish are also one of the creatures that do not sleep? 

The immortal jellyfish forces us to think about the fundamental assumptions about age and longevity of living creatures. The extraordinary biology of this immortal Jeelifish also opens numerous gates in the field of human medicine for the research on tissue regeneration and anti-ageing treatments for future prospects.