Immortality has been the dream of many people since ancient times, and everyone hopes that they can always be young and live forever. In the distant Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang hoped that he could live forever, so he sent warlocks to look for immortal medicine everywhere, but there was no such medicine in the world, and Qin Shi Huang eventually died. After all, human lifespan is limited, and no one can resist the passage of time.
However, although humans have no way to live forever, there is a jellyfish in the animal kingdom that can be "immortal", which is called the lighthouse jellyfish.
Lighthouse jellyfish is a small jellyfish that lives in the Caribbean Sea in North America. Its body resembles a bell, only a few millimeters in diameter, and it is transparent. The lighthouse jellyfish has a large stomach, the color is bright red, and it is shaped like a lighthouse, so it is called the lighthouse jellyfish.
We know that animals, like people, experience life, old age, illness and death, but lighthouse jellyfish are different. It is the only organism currently known to be able to recover from the maturation stage to the larval stage.
The average jellyfish dies after reaching maturity, but the lighthouse jellyfish can rejuvenate, which is called differentiation transfer in biology. And this process is unlimited, which means that the lighthouse jellyfish can always return to old age, and it is in this way to obtain unlimited lifespan, known as the "immortal jellyfish".
Lighthouse jellyfish
In reality, though, this approach can only make the lighthouse jellyfish immortal, but if it dies of illness or is eaten by other animals, it will not be able to live forever.
Living in the ocean, lighthouse jellyfish face a variety of dangers, including predators, diseases, and environmental changes that are deadly enough to cause its death, so its immortality can only be achieved without danger.
In this way, its ability is not considered to be the ability of "immortality", to be precise, it should be the reverse growth ability of rejuvenation. As for why the lighthouse jellyfish can rejuvenate, at present, the scientific community has not yet found the answer and is still being studied.