Lifespan as defined here is the longest recorded lifespan except for the immortal jellyfish (again for obvious reasons). • The unique regeneration process of the mature immortal jellyfish … Red sea urchins normally have a lifespan over 30 years, but radiocarbon dating has identified some over two centuries in age. The immortal jellyfish accomplished this through “transdifferentiation,” which changes the differentiated state of cells and turns them into new kind of cell. Of course, they can still die due to predatory reasons, or to a certain desease or even loss of food and habitat. It is one of the few known cases of animals capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary individual. Image credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program/wikimedia. The nutrition of immortal jellyfish consists of plankton, fish … To date, there’s only one species that has been called ‘biologically immortal’: the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii. But forcefully extending the human lifespan by even one decade would present difficult social realities, and we have little insight into what this would mean for us. The Immortal Jellyfish continues to rejuvenate until it reaches its earliest form of life as a polyp, from where it once again begins to age as any other biological organism, once its environment can supports its life. The immortal jellyfish. The Biologist 63(3) p16-19. The king of them all in terms of biological lifespan is the Turritopsis Nutricula which can potentially live forever. Immortal jellyfish reproduce both sexually and asexually, but it is not hermaphroditic. Scientists, pharmacists and doctors hope a study of its life cycle will bring improvements to the aging process for us mere mortals on dry land. They can undergo this cycle repeatedly. The Immortal Jellyfish (immortal) This jellyfish, the Turritopsis dohrnii, literally says “not today ... Their lifespan was not generally assumed to be very long, until one specimen of the whale was found, in 2007, with a harpoon embedded in its blubber that was manufactured in the 1880s. The sexually mature medusa stage which reproduces by the spawning and fertilization of eggs with sperm, while the sexually immature polyps reproduce by budding. Lifespan: Immortal unless disease or predation. Polyps are sessile creatures that stay attached to a substratum. Immortal jellyfish defy death by producing genetically identical copies of themselves. Animal: Turritopsis dohrnii. This species of immortal jellyfish is called turritopsis nutricula and it has the amazing ability to revert itself back to a state before it’s sexually mature when it is injured, sick, or threatened by predators. Backward-aging jellyfish At the top of our immortal animals list is a tiny variety of jellyfish known as Turritopsis doohmii, or more commonly, the immortal jellyfish. This remains to be seen, but the immortal jelly is sure proof that our ocean holds wisdom still left undiscovered. It means that Immortal jellyfish do not die, by nature. Immortal jellyfish, however, undergo a transformation in which they return to a stage of sexual immaturity after reproducing, only to mature and reproduce again, then return to sexual immaturity, and so on. So, this jellyfish species, Turritopsis dohrnii, is virtually immortal. After years of searching he found out there was a plant in the ocean that was believed to be able to make one immortal. Medusa or adult jellyfish typically live for a few months, depending on the species, although some species can live for 2-3 years in captivity. Most jellyfish are short lived. ANSWER: It of course depends on the species of jellyfish. Biological immortality (sometimes referred to as bio-indefinite mortality) is a state in which the rate of mortality from senescence is stable or decreasing, thus decoupling it from chronological age. The story of the immortal jellyfish starts in 1988. We live and die - that's the reality of human life. The Immortal Jellyfish ... And its lifespan is just as weird; it reaches sexual maturity extremely late, at between 20 and 30 years, and doesn't even stop growing until its 35th year. They are believed to have an infinity potential lifespan. The lifespan can range from several hours (for hydromedusaes) to a few months for large coastal jellyfish (usually 2-6 months). Most jellyfish have a lifespan of between a few hours to a few months, though a few varieties can live for several years. Polyps can live and reproduce asexually for several years, or even decades. Amazingly, its cells then reaggregate, not into a new medusa, but into polyps, and from these polyps emerge new jellyfish. 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