Fossils in the water - beautiful peach blossom jellyfish
Author | Liu Yadan
(Researcher, Deputy Secretary-General of China Association for International Agricultural Exchange, Chief Science Communication Expert of China)
Review | Dr. Pan Xiaofu
(Senior Engineer, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
In the mysterious ocean, jellyfish is undoubtedly one of the most magical and elegant species. Recently, there was a report entitled "The giant panda peach blossom jellyfish in the water appeared in Yunnan, with a 600 million-year survival history", which drew people's attention to this amazing species.
Image source/People's Daily Weibo
The author found Pan Xiaofu, a senior engineer at the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an expert in the identification of peach blossom jellyfish, and discussed the discovery with him. Now let's step into the magical world of jellyfish viewing!
Colorful and magical jellyfish (author photographed in Wuhan East Lake Aquarium)
The world of jellyfish is unique and magical
650 million years ago, jellyfish were born on Earth. Over hundreds of millions of years of evolution, they have become a huge family of more than 250 species.
Different jellyfish have different morphologies. The miraculous manifestation of jellyfish is that 95% of its body is water, and it is composed of two germ layers inside and outside, and there is a thick intercolloid layer between the two layers, which is not only transparent, but also has a floating effect, and the rest is protein and lipids. They have no heart, blood, gills, or bones, so jellyfish have a soft body, most species are transparent or translucent, and are very elastic like jelly. Jellyfish mainly feed on plankton in the ocean, and the abundant food resources in the ocean make jellyfish grow rapidly, growing to several meters long and weighing several tons in two or three months.
The reason why jellyfish is unique is because its movement mode is easily distinguished from other animals, the movement of jellyfish one by one is very energy-saving, and the new jet engine is made by imitating the movement principle of jellyfish.
Jellyfish have a very developed sense of hearing, and after hearing infrasound waves emitted by storms or tsunamis thousands of miles away, they will hide in time to the relatively calm depths of the ocean to avoid being crushed by ferocious waves.
Jellyfish are highly resistant to low oxygen. In the ocean, due to pollution or geological changes, the oxygen content in the sea water is very low, and some marine life cannot survive, but jellyfish can thrive in the sea called the "desert" of the ocean.
Beautiful jellyfish (author at the Toronto Aquarium)
Jellyfish are colorful water elves
Jellyfish are a highly ornamental species, they are diverse, different forms, colorful, people can't help but marvel at the magic of the Creator. I have visited many aquariums in Japan and abroad, and jellyfish are the beautiful scenery of these aquariums. Scientific studies have shown that the frequency of the movement of the sea moon jellyfish and the frequency of the alpha waves produced by the human brain when calm are very similar, people appreciate the elegant swimming posture of the sea moon jellyfish, the brain waves will gradually approach the alpha waves, and the human mood will gradually relax, so the contraction movement of the jellyfish can effectively relieve people's nervous and anxious nerves. In Japan and the United States, many aquariums hold nightly activities in front of jellyfish tanks, and visitors can enjoy the jellyfish tanks in the night in their sleeping bags and fall asleep peacefully. Many psychological clinics carry out psychological stress reduction treatment, and one of the methods used is jellyfish stress reduction.
Delicate jellyfish (Author at Wuhan East Lake Aquarium)
What kind of jellyfish is the jellyfish that appeared in Yunnan this time?
It is a peach blossom jellyfish. Peach blossom jellyfish is an ancient and rare species in the jellyfish family, with a survival history of hundreds of millions to billions of years, or even longer, and now they are in a state of extinction. It is characterized by transparent body, headless and tailless, round, about 2 cm in diameter, crystal clear, soft as silk, and five peach-shaped tentacle-like objects distributed in the middle, swimming like a peach blossom floating in the water performing "synchronized swimming". Peach blossom jellyfish has extremely high requirements for the living environment, if the water quality is polluted, they may become extinct in a few days, its preciousness can be comparable to the giant panda, so known as the "giant panda in the water", belongs to the world's highest level of protection of "critically endangered organisms", is China's protected animals in the red list of protected animals. Research experts believe that peach blossom jellyfish is a veritable "living fossil" with high research value and ornamental value. Peach blossom jellyfish record the development of life on earth with its own unique life formation.
Peach blossom jellyfish appearing in Fuyuan Courtesy photo/Pan Xiaofu
In zoology, the world's first record of peach blossom jellyfish was in 1880, the specimen was collected from London, England, and named Sotheon's peach blossom jellyfish. It took about half a century to be discovered around the world, mainly in temperate regions such as Asia, Europe, and the Americas, but it has also been found in Oceania. The first discovery of peach blossom jellyfish in China was in 1907, which was harvested by the Japanese Kawai and named Yichang peach blossom jellyfish by the Japanese scholar Yau Asa. In fact, in the thirty-seventh year of the Ming Dynasty, that is, in 1609, there is a record of "peach blossom fish". This is the earliest record of peach blossom jellyfish in the world. According to the information that has been found, we can be sure that China's understanding of peach blossom jellyfish is at least more than 270 years earlier than that of European and American countries.
In Zigui (now located in the western part of Hubei Province), the peach blossom jellyfish is also called "peach blossom fish", and there is such a well-known and moving legend here. King Zhaojun of Han married Saiwai for the sake of Han Hu's reconciliation. Zhaojun went back to his hometown to visit his relatives before leaving the plug, embraced the pipa, sat on the boat on the Lingxi River, played a pipa line with deep feelings, and could not help but cry, and the crystal teardrops dripped into the river, instantly turning into a transparent peach blossom fish.
What is the main significance of this discovery of jellyfish?
As the country with the most wide distribution of peach blossom jellyfish, China has found its traces in 19 provinces, cities and districts, and 12 species (subspecies) of peach blossom jellyfish have been reported. Due to the wide distribution of peach blossom jellyfish, the individuals of each landmark are quite different, and the peach blossom jellyfish found in the same water is usually a group. At present, there are only 3 recognized effective species of peach blossom jellyfish in the world, namely craspedacustasowerbyi, issainesis (ciseanum) and Chinese peach blossom jellyfish (csinensis).
Scientific and technological personnel for the appearance of the peach blossom jellyfish for scientific identification, first extracted the DNA of the Fuyuan peach blossom jellyfish, and the use of coi gene for species identification, the obtained DNA sequence and the basic nucleic acid database genbank in the ncbi for comparison, the results show that the Fuyuan peach blossom jellyfish and the Sophie peach blossom jellyfish (c. sowerbyi, mf000493) similarity of up to 99.53%, so it was determined that the peach blossom jellyfish is the sorrelite jellyfish (c. sowerbyi). That is to say, this is one of the 3 effective species of peach blossom jellyfish recognized in the world. This endangered fossil in the water still lives tenaciously in our nature, and its appearance seems to remind us of the importance of protecting nature.
Beautiful jellyfish have gradually entered people's lives
With the deepening of research and the advancement of technology, the research of jellyfish by scientific and technological personnel is becoming more and more sufficient, and while strictly protecting some rare species, the research and development of ornamental jellyfish has also been successful. Most of us only see jellyfish in aquariums, and now they have entered our lives as an emerging ornamental species. Many entrepreneurs take the industrialization and market promotion of ornamental jellyfish as their main business projects, which has promoted the development of the ornamental jellyfish industry.
At present, the artificial breeding difficulties of various jellyfish such as sea moon jellyfish, purple sea thorn, and asycalyptus jellyfish have been broken, so that the supply of jellyfish is not affected by the season. At the same time, researchers have also developed micro-particle feeds and liquid natural baits that can meet the feeding habits and nutritional needs of jellyfish, jellyfish tanks and peripherals, simplifying jellyfish breeding technology, so that ornamental jellyfish can enter people's lives and truly be popularized.
Sea moon jellyfish English name: moon jellyfish Latin name: aurelia aurita Courtesy photo / East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
Pacific Sea Thorn English name: pacific sea nettle Latin name: chrysaorafuscescens Courtesy of photo/East China Sea, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
Australian spotted jellyfish English name: australian spotted jellyfish Latin name: phyllorhiza punctate Courtesy of Photo/ Chinese Aquatic Sciences
Amakusa jelly English name: amakusa jelly Latin name: sanderiamalayensis Courtesy of Photo/ East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
In addition to the above species, there are many gorgeous-looking, flexible and flowing jellyfish that are very ornamental, but the current research on them is insufficient, and it is necessary to explore their artificial breeding and large-scale breeding in depth. I believe that with the continuous deepening of research and the continuous development of technology, there will be more types of jellyfish worth watching enter our lives and bring us more beautiful sensory enjoyment.
Beautiful jellyfish shine (Courtesy photo/Liu Yadan)
Children carefully observe jellyfish (Courtesy photo/Liu Yadan)
May the green water and green mountains remain unchanged, and may more beautiful spirits return!
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