How does the immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii) live for so long? A leading scientist the stranger cellular science behind the creature s lifespan.
Most ocean life remains to be discovered. Because fish and many other animals that live in the ocean often have larvae or other, microscopic life stages that drift freely in ocean water, counting species by genetic barcoding of plankton samples adds to counts of species recorded as adults and is a highly efficient way to understand what lives in the ocean and how biodiversity changes as we modify the ocean environment
The jellyfish cells are able to undergo a process called transdifferentiation that allows T. dohrnii to revert back to a younger life cycle – much like a 40-year-old human who could go back to being a five-year-old.