2. Table of contents
The secret to eternal
life
About jellyfish The jellyfish that never
dies
Where we can find them?
“one of the most amazing
discoveries of our time”
Some FAQs
01
04
02
05
03
06
Introduction Description Discovery
Immortality Habitat Conclusion
4. Jellyfish background
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum Cnideria
Class Hydrozoa
Order
Anthoathecata
Family
Oceaniidae
Genus
Turritopsis
ScientificName
T. dohrnii
jellyfish, any planktonic marine
member of the class Scyphozoa
(phylum Cnidaria), a group of
invertebrate animals composed of
about 200 described species.
The term is also frequently applied
to certain other cnidarians (such as
members of the class Hydrozoa)
that have a medusoid (bell- or
saucer-shaped) body form, as, for
example, the siphonophores
(including the Portuguese man-of-
war/Physalia sp).
Unrelated forms such as comb
jellies (phylum Ctenophora) and
salps (phylum Chordata) are also
referred to as jellyfish. Scyphozoan
jellyfish can be divided into two
types, those that are free-
swimming medusae and those that
are sessile.
Immortal Jellyfish Scientific Classification
5. Main parts of a jellyfish
Muscle band
The muscles in a jellyfish's bell contract to
propel the jellyfish forward,
upward, or downward.
Eye spots
Tentacles
Mouth
Bell
Oral arms
The umbrella shaped part of a
jellyfish’s body-to create a wall of
water to push off so they can
propel quickly.
Jellyfish have light-sensitive organs called
ocelli, or eye spots. These organs are
able to tell light from dark.
Jellyfish use their tentacles to capture prey and
defend against predators. Their tentacles are
armed with thousands or millions of microscopic
stinging cells called nematocysts
Inside their bell-shaped body is an
opening that is its mouth. They eat
and discard waste from this opening.
As jellyfish squirt water from their
mouths they are propelled forward.
These long appendages move
captured prey to the animal's mouth,
which is usually found on the
underside of the bell.
7. Humans have always been fascinated by the
idea of cheating death.
We’ve looked to everything from religion, the
planets, cryogenics and even the mythical
fountain of youth.
While we were searching the heavens,
science and all the corners of the Earth, the
secret of immortality may have been floating
in the ocean this whole time. In the form of a
jellyfish.
Let’s cheat the death
8. The beginning of life
.
Like all jellyfish, T. dohrnii
begins life as a larva, called a
planula, which develops from
a fertilized egg. A planula
swims at first, then settles on
the sea floor and grows into a
cylindrical colony of polyps.
These ultimately spawn free-
swimming, genetically
identical medusae—which
grow to adulthood in a matter
of weeks.
.
9. Appearence
resembling an ice cube
or glass. Its body is bell-
shaped and transparent
with a minuscule height
of 0.18 inches and a
diameter of 0.18 to 0.4
inches, making it smaller
than a pinky nail.
which is vibrant red and
has a cruciform shape in
its cross-section. Inside
their transparent
membrane, immortal
jellyfish have a
hydrostatic skeleton
called a mesoglea which
has a jellylike substance.
Some immortal jellyfish
experience genetic
variations influenced by
the conditions of their
environment. For
example, those living in
tropical waters have 8
tentacles, while those in
more temperate waters
have approx 24 tentacles
The immortal
jellyfish is
almost invisible
Its body is
mostly taken up
by its stomach
The
variations
11. The drifting
ballons
Appearence
When we think of a
jellyfish, what most of
us is picturing is the
“Medusa stage”, the
second stage of
jellyfish life. They
spend this part of their
lives as opaque
drifting balloons with
trailing tentacles.
13. The species T. dohrnii was first described
by scientists in 1883. It was 100 years
later, in the 1980s, that their immortality
was accidentally discovered.
• Students Christian Sommer and Giorgio
Bavestrello collected Turritopsis polyps, which
they kept and monitored until medusae were
released. It was thought that these jellyfish would
have to mature before spawning and producing
larvae, but when the jar was next checked, they
were surprised to find many newly settled polyps.
15. Transdifferentiation
The hydrozoan Turritopsis dohrnii, can actually reverse its life cycle. It has been dubbed
the immortal jellyfish.
When the medusa of this species is physically damaged or experiences stresses such as
starvation, instead of dying it shrinks in on itself, reabsorbing its tentacles and losing the
ability to swim. It then settles on the seafloor as a blob-like cyst.
Over the next 24-36 hours, this blob develops into a new polyp - the jellyfish's previous life
stage - and after maturing, medusae bud off. This phenomenon has been likened to that of
a butterfly which, instead of dying, would be able to transform back into a caterpillar and
then metamorphose into an adult butterfly once again.
The process behind the jellyfish's remarkable transformation is called transdifferentiation
and is extremely rare.
Transdifferentiation reprogrammes the medusa's specialised cells to become specialised
polyp cells, allowing the jellyfish to regrow themselves in an entirely different body plan to
the free-swimming jellyfish they had recently been. They can then mature again from there
as normal, producing new, genetically identical medusae.
16. Can immortal jellyfish die?
T. dohrnii may bend the rules to rejuvenate itself, but it
can't always cheat death. For example, jellyfish,
including immortal ones, are prey to other animals, such
as fish and turtles. Polyps are also practically
defenceless to predation by animals such as sea slugs
and crustaceans.
But through his endeavours, Japanese scientist Shin
Kubota has reported that over a two-year period, captive
colonies of the jellyfish naturally rejuvenated themselves
up to 10 times, sometimes at intervals of just one month.
19. Jellyfish habitats
.
.
Turritopsis prefer warmer waters, although they
have been spotted in colder areas as well. The
species has also been found on the Atlantic Ocean
side of Panama, Spain, and Japan. It has spread
throughout the world after getting caught in the
ballast waters of long-distance ocean cargo ships
Ballast water is pumped in and out of vessels like
cargo and cruise ships to maintain stability. It is
highly possible that immortal jellyfish get drawn in
with this water and are able to survive ocean
crossings thanks to their ability to reverse their life
cycle when they experience stresses, such as a lack
of food.
21. Immortal Jellyfish FAQs
Q)How long do immortal jellyfish live?
Ans)They can theoretically live forever, given no harm in the polyp stage and no
disease or loss of food and habitat in the medusa stage.
Q)What do immortal jellyfish eat?
Ans)Immortal jellyfish eat tiny sea creatures including plankton, fish eggs, larvae,
and brine shrimp.
Q)Are immortal jellyfish dangerous?
Ans) Immortal jellyfish can sting, but they are not poisonous, unlike the box jellyfish
which is also tiny at just 0.98 inches.
