The Immortal Jellyfish
This is Turritopsis rubra, a jellyfish that is very closely related to T. dohrnii. It is currently unclear whether this species can transform back into a polyp. © Tony Wills via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
T. dohrnii is sensitive, making it also difficult to rear in a lab for studies. But despite the challenges, one scientist is known to have had long-term success with captive immortal jellyfish.
Japanese scientist Shin Kubota has kept populations of immortal jellyfish looping through their unusual back and forth life cycle since the 1990s. His work with the species is time-consuming, with Kubota needing to monitor and care for the colonies daily, even having to slice up their miniature meals of brine shrimp eggs under a microscope so they're small enough for the tiny jellyfish to eat.
But through his endeavours, 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.
T. dohrnii is sensitive, making it also difficult to rear in a lab for studies. But despite the challenges, one scientist is known to have had long-term success with captive immortal jellyfish.
Japanese scientist Shin Kubota has kept populations of immortal jellyfish looping through their unusual back and forth life cycle since the 1990s. His work with the species is time-consuming, with Kubota needing to monitor and care for the colonies daily, even having to slice up their miniature meals of brine shrimp eggs under a microscope so they're small enough for the tiny jellyfish to eat.
But through his endeavours, 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.
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06 December 2022
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