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IMMORTAL JELLYFISH

     The good news is that you can be immortal but you have to become a jellyfish. Scientists have discovered a jellyfish that can live forever.

     The Immortal Jellyfish are known scientifically as Turritopsis dohrnii. It is 4.5 mm-wide species. They are tiny creatures. Younger turritopsises have only 8 tentacles and are 1 mm tall, while adult ones can have up to 90 tentacles.
     Turritopsis dohrnii have reproduced, they don’t die but transform themselves back into their juvenile polyp state. Simply, the immortal jellyfish turning into a baby again.

       Their tentacles retract, their bodies shrink, and they sink to the ocean floor and start the cycle all over again. Among laboratory samples, all the adult Turritopsis observed regularly undergo this change.

     The process that lets the turritopsis remain immortal is called transdifferentiation and it involves one cell converting from one type to another. 

      Thus, the only known way they can die is if they get consumed by another fish or if a disease strikes the jelly.
     The immortal jellyfish prefers warmer waters, although it has been spotted in colder areas as well. They originate from the Caribbean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

       Their food consists of plankton, fish eggs and small molluscs. While the process of reverting from its adult phase to a polyp was observed several times, it hasn’t been observed yet in nature, only in laboratory environments.



Credits: Sabitha

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