Immortal Jellyfish Facts
The immortal jellyfish (scientific name – Turritopsis nutricula) was discovered in 1883 in the Mediterranean Sea. However, it’s extremely unique regeneration powers were not known to researchers and scientists until the mid-1990s. The unique regeneration process of the mature immortal jellyfish is quite unique. When it is injured or starving, it will attach itself to a surface in warm waters and turns into a sort of living blob. From this blob state, its cells will undergo a process called “transdifferentiation”.
Transdifferentiation is a process wherein cells will turn into different kinds of cells. For instance, the muscle cells of the immortal jellyfish can turn into egg cells or even sperm cells. Nerve cells may also turn into muscle cells, and this means that the immortal jellyfish have transformation powers, the likes of which have never been seen and unmatched in the animal kingdom.
Ever since the discovery of the immortal jellyfish in the Mediterranean Sea, more identical species have been found in places like the Atlantic Ocean side of Panama, Spain, and even Japan. The reason they are so spread out is that they get caught in ballast waters that come from long-distance ocean cargo vessels.
