Immortality exists: animals that can live forever live in the ocean

While humanity is striving to gain eternal life, spending billions on the creation of new drugs and technologies, organisms that have no power over time have been living in the depths of the sea for millions of years. This is the jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula. Of course, these are not the most highly developed creatures on the planet, but the fact that they managed to unravel the secret of immortality makes us a detailed story about these creatures.

The discovery of the immortal essence of this species was made quite by accident at the end of the last century. In the laboratory of the Italian scientist Fernando Boero, several jellyfish of the species Turritopsis nutricula lived in a special aquarium. These tiny creatures, no more than 5 mm in diameter, were intended for experimentation. But scientists are scattered: Fernando Boero did not add water to the aquarium in time, and the jellyfish were left without their usual habitat. Upon careful study, Boero found that the jellyfish did not die, but turned into polyps, so he decided to pour them water again and see what happens next. Subsequent studies showed that after the stress, the jellyfish began to go through the full cycle of its development anew. Thus, it turned out that the jellyfish did not die, as occurs in other species, but returned to the breeding stage.

The fact is that the usual life cycle of jellyfish is as follows. Jellyfish are invertebrate organisms that reproduce sexually. Among them, male and female individuals are distinguished, which form sperm and egg cells. After the fusion of germ cells, a larva (planula) forms, which attaches to the seabed and begins to grow, turning into a polyp. Well, at the next stage, the process of budding takes place: young individuals of jellyfish separate from the polyp and start free swimming. After they reach puberty, the cycle repeats, and adults die after reproduction. The average life expectancy of jellyfish is 3-6 months.

But the immortal jellyfish managed to overcome this injustice: it does not die after reproduction, but attaches to the surface, turning into a polyp. Well, then everything continues, like the rest of the jellyfish, with the only difference being that this process lasts forever.

Of course, there are predators that can interrupt this wonderful process of immortal existence and swallow the baby. But no one is safe from such troubles.

Initially, jellyfish of the species Turritopsis nutricula lived only in the Caribbean Sea, but then they settled in all the expanses of the ocean. Scientists even expressed fears that, using such methods of reproduction, jellyfish of this species are able to fill up with themselves all the habitable water space and upset the balance in aquatic ecosystems. But later it became clear that such fears are groundless, although an annual increase in the number of these organisms is observed.

The immortal jellyfish, which is of great interest to scientists, is by far the only living organism capable of endless self-rejuvenation and regeneration. But the ocean still hides many secrets, and creatures unknown to science still live in its waters. And it is possible that there is someone else who owns such technologies.