Scientific observations suggest that Aurelia aurita, a moon jellyfish, can age backwards.
The ability to regenerate missing parts is not only an invaluable survival strategy in biology, it’s also potentially of great medical importance. Observations by Jinru He, a graduate student at China’s Xiamen University, suggest that Aurelia aurita, a moon jellyfish, goes a step further and can age backwards, like Benjamin Button in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story! Read about it online (Benjamin Button Moon Jellyfish Age Backwards). He noted a polyp on an isolated dead jellyfish in a fresh tank. Apparently a new polyp developed from the dead jelly. Possibly the polyp developed from a still living cell on the jellyfish. What really happened needs to be determined of course. Jellyfish are known to have the ability to regenerate, and in one species, Turritopsis dohrnil, the adult medusa can revert to a polyp stage. It seems that jellyfish have been more successful in tapping the fountain of youth than we have.
Another amazing “first” for self-repair has been reported for Aurelia aurita from another graduate student, Michael, Grams, this time at the California Institute of Technology (LiveScience.com). When these juvenile jellyfish lose tentacles, they don’t regenerate them – there’s no reversion to a younger stage to replace the missing part. Instead, the tentacles that are left rearrange and become symmetrically placed around the jellyfish. Apparently normal muscular movements of the jellyfish make this occur.
While the biology leaves much to clarify in greater detail, what’s clear is that we shouldn’t skimp on basic research on jellyfish or any other species we consider “primitive.”
I welcome comments on these results.
Leave A Comment