ever hear of Turritopsis dohrnii. the immortal jellyfish

i think theyre cool so i wanted to share

en.wikipedia.org...

It is the only known case of an animal capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary individual.[2][3]

. All the polyps and jellyfish arising from a single planula are genetically identical clones. If a T. dohrnii jellyfish is exposed to environmental stress or physical assault, or is sick or old, it can revert to the polyp stage, forming a new polyp colony.[4] It does this through the cell development process of transdifferentiation, which alters the differentiated state of the cells and transforms them into new types of cells.

Theoretically, this process can go on indefinitely, effectively rendering the jellyfish biologically immortal,[3][5] although, in nature, most Turritopsis are likely to succumb to predation or disease in the medusa stage, without reverting to the polyp form

a reply to: Mugly

Wonder how old the oldest one is.

But I guess there is no way to tell even with lab equipment.

You're telling me a 100 year old jellyfish could appear to be only weeks old?

a reply to: Mugly

Very, VERY cool! Thank you for sharing the awesome traits of this fascinating creature. I wonder if there are and medical applications for this!?

originally posted by: frostie
a reply to: Mugly

Wonder how old the oldest one is.

But I guess there is no way to tell even with lab equipment.

You're telling me a 100 year old jellyfish could appear to be only weeks old?

the way i read it is when it is old or feels threatened it can reverse back to sexual maturity and release more pollyps(clones) that will start the process again

The amazing thing is that jellyfish don't have brains (or even bones or hearts), but they do have a visual system that is enough to direct swimming so that it can find somewhere shadier or cooler. If the stress on the critter is so high that it can keep going on as an adult, it can just start self-replicating and start again.