TPO - Researchers have discovered that some jellyfish species can fuse their bodies together when injured. This unique adaptation, which includes merging their nervous systems and stomachs, has never been seen in any other species.
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For the first time, researchers have been able to fuse the body of an injured warty jellyfish (Mnemiopsis leidyi). (Photo: Alamy) |
Strange deep-sea creatures called comb jellies can fuse together when injured, creating a single giant organism with a permanently fused nervous system and stomach, a new study has revealed. The unusual adaptation has never been seen in any other species, the researchers said.
Researchers accidentally discovered this fused jellyfish in the lab.
Comb jellies, also known as ctenophores, are a group of more than 100 species of gelatinous, tentacle-like blobs of water. These alien-looking creatures put on a glowing show in the deep sea by lighting up specialized cells throughout their transparent bodies. They are often considered one of the strangest creatures in the deep sea and are thought to be among the oldest ancestors of humans.
In a new study published in the journal Current Biology, the researchers describe how they were conducting research on the warty comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi), when they discovered one of their test subjects had gone missing from a tank in the lab.
The team then noticed that one of the remaining jellyfish was unusually large. And upon closer inspection, they realized that it was actually two individuals intertwined with no apparent separation.
The researchers suspect that this fusion is a previously unknown adaptation due to the fact that both animals were injured. To prove this, they attempted to replicate the fusion process by taking small body parts from 20 individuals and grafting them together, and nine of the pairs successfully fused together.
The injured jellyfish fused rapidly, often completely joining together within 24 hours of being joined together. Within two hours of their bodies fully merging, the pairs also demonstrated that their nervous systems were fully synchronized by responding to stimuli. This rapid neural fusion is likely the result of the jellyfish’s unique nerve cells.
The researchers also fed the fused jellyfish fluorescent shrimp to test whether their stomachs were fused. Food ingested by one of the jellyfish's mouths could be seen moving through both stomachs.
While organisms merge into one, they are not a single organism because they have separate DNA and they cannot pass on their "unique morphology" to the next generation.
Researchers often refer to the fused individuals as “single entities.” The researchers say this is the first known case of any organisms fusing together in this way.
Most of the fused pairs were still alive after three weeks when the study ended due to lack of funding. However, researcher Jokura suspects that the fused jellyfish could live much longer.
According to Live Science
Source: https://tienphong.vn/ky-la-loai-sua-bien-biet-bien-hinh-sau-khi-bi-thuong-post1681548.tpo
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