Probably, everyone at least once came up with the idea of whether there are immortal beings on Earth. And for several years now the answer to this question will be positive! Incredible survivability have several species, especially five of them. However, only a small inconspicuous creature is recognized as truly capable of living forever, the marine resident turritopsis nutricula is the only immortal creature on earth. This jellyfish has a unique recovery mechanism that haunts scientists.
What does it mean to be immortal?
In the case of the jellyfish turritopsis, we are talking only about endless life without interference from the outside. That is, to kill, eat, crush or somehow destroy a potentially immortal animal is very simple, the disease can deprive the body of the ability to recover before the rescue mechanism starts, but independently - from old age, exposure to adverse aggressive environmental factors, climate change, its existence breaks down apparently cannot.
How does this happen?
The process of maintaining life in the body of the only immortal creature on earth is very simple, like all brilliant. This type of jellyfish is able to return to the initial stage of its development an infinite number of times and launch it, practically, from scratch.
The whole life cycle of turritopsis nutricula can be divided into two fundamentally different ways of life. After separation from the maternal organism, in which the earliest postembryonic stage of larval development occurs, the animals are in the form of a polyp, where under the chitinous cover, future jellyfish that are capable of moving, mature. Polyps have tentacles that are designed to carry out the nutritional function of an immobile organism.
An interesting fact is that divided functionally somatic cells take part in the restoration of the body. Sexuals are not involved in this process.
When do the mechanisms of immortality turn on?
Most species of jellyfish die after breeding. But not turritopsis, deservedly recognized as immortal creatures on Earth. An adult sexually mature jellyfish of this species is capable, in the event of adverse conditions (a critical change in the temperature of the water, its chemical composition) or after injuries, again sinking to the bottom and temporarily become a polyp, thus launching the next round of its existence.
In this form, jellyfish even experience a complete lack of water for some time. They return to the larval stage, and when immersed in the aquatic environment pass into the state of the polyp.
What kind of jellyfish is turritopsis?
The size of the long-liver is not at all large - usually it does not exceed 4-5 millimeters. The animal has the shape of a dome, with tentacles located on the edges of this formation.
The number of processes increases with the development of the body. A young jellyfish, which has just budded and has begun a moving phase of life, can have eight or more tentacles. An adult is usually equipped with eight to nine dozen processes. Some inhabitants of the Japanese seas number them almost two hundred.
There are heterosexual representatives of the genus and hermaphrodites, having both of these characteristic reproductive organs.
Where can I find her?
The homeland of the only immortal creatures on Earth is considered to be the Caribbean, but over time, long-lived babies penetrated most of the warm seas. The temperate and tropical zone became the habitat for turritopsis nutricula. Scientists admit that due to its endurance, this species probably has spread even further.
Many experts are confident that, if desired, they can be found in any ocean on the globe. If turritopsis has not yet been recorded in some reservoirs of jellyfish, it is possible that the animal has not yet multiplied enough or is in a passive stage due to unfavorable conditions for a full existence.
This type of jellyfish can be attributed to one of the many varieties of zooplankton. Most migrations of turritopsis occur in its mass.
Invasion of immortal beings
Jellyfish have been living on Earth for a long time, but still not replaced by other organisms with their infinite number of ever-rejuvenating relatives. These are rather small fragile creatures, which in large quantities become the food of other inhabitants of the seas. Some experts are of the opinion that populations will be regulated naturally and the issue will not require human intervention.
At the same time, the number of these jellyfish has increased markedly even over the past few years. Scientists have joked more than once that the vital activity, reproduction and active resettlement of the only immortal creatures on Earth throughout the oceans reminds the beginning of a global grandiose invasion.
Time will tell which adherents of what judgment were farsighted and whether humanity should be wary of such tiny, but very viable creatures.
Does a person have a chance to repeat this success?
The study of the ability of animals to return the body to earlier stages of development is very active. The issue of rejuvenation has been troubling mankind for many centuries, and the unique marine creature has given another reason to think that it is the knowledge of its natural mechanisms that hides the secret of aging and increasing life expectancy.
However, it is still very early to talk about the benefits of such developments. Considering that the very possibility of this type of jellyfish to rebuild the work of its own cells was clarified relatively recently - at the end of the twentieth century, it has not yet been possible to systematize and apply to people the knowledge arising from this find.
Other outstanding centenarians of planet Earth
In addition to the jellyfish turritopsis officially recognized as the only immortal creature on Earth, there are several adaptations to negative factors of animals that are quite outstanding in their features.
The most amazing can be called four varieties:
- Tiny hydra polyps . They can replace parts of themselves with new ones, and also, when a whole organism is divided, they can develop into a full one from each fragment.
- Tardigrades. A strikingly viable species, resistant to cold and heat, able to stay in a vacuum for a decade, remain alive and functional after that. This organism is incredibly hardy even to radiation. A thousandfold excess of a dose of radiation, lethal to the animal most resistant to such effects, will not harm one and a half millimeter tardigrades.
- Fish lang. An amazing representative of their kind. Can survive without water for up to a year, burrowing into dry mud. It withstands hardening of the soil to an extremely dense state.
- Not the most pleasant, outwardly resembling a cockroach hybrid with a grasshopper, a giant insect called veta. Its natural habitat belongs to the regions of New Zealand. If the body is unable to function normally, it can survive due to blood circulation with the "regulation" and control apparatus turned off. A kind of prototype of zombies that exist with an unused brain and heart. The reason for this mechanism is the special composition of the blood. It includes a unique protein that prevents the circulation from stopping.
The ever-young naked mole rat, who lives up to 30 years, does not cease to amaze, which exceeds ten times the life expectancy of ordinary rodents. The animal does not age, but nevertheless dies, for reasons as yet unknown.
However, officially only the aforementioned jellyfish still remains the only immortal creature on earth.