The peach blossom jellyfish, which has survived for 600 million years, is known as the "giant panda in the water" and is now on the verge of extinction
According to reports, in Fuyuan County, Qujing City, Yunnan Province, experts from the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences confirmed that the peach blossom jellyfish called "giant pandas in the water" appeared in the local area after identification, they are extremely precious, called "living fossils in the water", and have been born for 600 million years.
What is a peach blossom jellyfish?
In 1880, in London, England, a zoologist discovered a jellyfish that had never been seen before, which was less than 2 centimeters in diameter, covered with tentacles, and had a pale yellow body, and the tentacles and umbrellas were slightly pink, and the ornamental value was extremely high. At the time, the zoologist named it "Sorrell's Peach Blossom Jellyfish". Later, after research, it was found that this jellyfish is very widely distributed, and it can be seen in temperate regions such as Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania.
In 1907, a Japanese scholar also found the figure of peach blossom jellyfish in Yichang, Hubei Province, which was the first peach blossom jellyfish found in China. Up to now, a total of 11 kinds of peach blossom jellyfish have been found around the world, of which in addition to the above-mentioned Sophia peach blossom jellyfish, and the Ise peach blossom jellyfish found in Japan in 1922, the remaining 9 species belong to China, this time found in Yunnan, is the Sox's peach blossom jellyfish, although it is widely distributed, but it is on the verge of extinction.
For more than 100 years, scientists have discovered that about 600 million years ago, peach blossom jellyfish appeared on Earth, they are one of the most primitive invertebrates, and they are also a rare species on Earth before the Cambrian explosion of life. It can be said that the peach blossom jellyfish has brought scientists valuable information about the history of life on Earth, and it has successfully escaped many mass extinctions, and is one of the oldest living creatures to date.
How did you find the peach blossom jellyfish figure this time?
When it comes to jellyfish, many friends may think that it lives in the ocean, but the peach blossom jellyfish is a freshwater species, and it has extremely high requirements for water quality, and you can also think of the peach blossom jellyfish as a species with "cleanliness". The peach blossom jellyfish found in Yunnan this time was originally a citizen who accidentally found this group of cute "water elves" in the pond near his home, and reported it to the relevant local departments after taking it home.
In the end, after expert identification, it was learned that they were actually the endangered Sox's peach blossom jellyfish. What is even more surprising is that immediately after, in Chengdu, Sichuan, the figure of peach blossom jellyfish was found again. According to a June 30 report by Red Star News, a resident found a peach blossom jellyfish in a pond in a residential area in Chengdu, and from the video he shot, the peach blossom jellyfish took the shape of a parachute and swam freely in the water.
After viewing the video and testing at the scene, the researchers said that the peach blossom jellyfish found in Chengdu was also found, but as for which kind of peach blossom jellyfish it belongs to, it still needs to be sequenced by molecules before the answer can be given. Speaking of which, among the existing 11 kinds of peach blossom jellyfish, there are 3 species in Sichuan, namely the Chinese peach blossom jellyfish discovered in 1939, the Leshan peach blossom jellyfish, and the Sichuan peach blossom jellyfish discovered in 1984, so the identity of the peach blossom jellyfish found in Chengdu is still worth looking forward to.
Why are endangered species found in communities?
Seeing this, I believe many friends will have a question, since peach blossom jellyfish are so precious, why do they appear in the pond, or even in the pond of the community? As we mentioned above, peach blossom jellyfish are very picky about water quality, and since they are endangered species, they want to buy them as ornaments or be released by others, which is unlikely, and the only explanation is that they may have been hiding here when they were in the hydra body.
Peach blossom jellyfish will experience two states in their lifetime, one is a body length of only a few millimeters, the naked eye can hardly see the hydra body, they can be attached to the stone, green plants, etc., into the freshwater environment, if the water quality is poor, they will always be dormant, until the environmental water quality is better, will mature into a diameter of about 2 cm "jellyfish".
Therefore, researchers believe that the peach blossom jellyfish found in Yunnan and Sichuan may be the earliest in the form of hydras, through green plants and so on to the pond, and in recent years in many artificial ponds, artificial lakes and even reservoirs across the country, peach blossom jellyfish figure has also been found, although it is not yet possible to prove the emergence of peach blossom jellyfish, proving that the local water quality environment is good and pollution-free, but from the peach blossom jellyfish pickiness, it can still be so.
In the next step, scientists are ready to continue to properly protect and study these "giant pandas in the water", on the one hand, to understand the evolutionary history of the "coelenterate" phylum to which the peach blossom jellyfish belongs, on the other hand, to study what is the connection between them and the water quality environment, and look forward to these "living fossils" can bring a satisfactory answer to human beings.
Informational messages
"Beijing Evening News" June 28 article "Peach blossom jellyfish appeared in Yunnan, born 600 million years ago, can be called "giant panda in the water""
Red Star News June 30 article "Rare! Rare creature "peach blossom jellyfish" appears in the pond of Chengdu community