Friday Fact 30 Jan 2009

Hey guys, I just got a laptop with Vista installed. All I can say is, TGIF!

Did you know that the Turritopsis nutricula jellyfish is biologically immortal?

From Wikipedia:

Turritopsis nutricula is a hydrozoan with a life cycle in which it reverts to the polyp stage after becoming sexually mature. It is the only known case of a metazoan capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary stage (Piraino et al. 1996, p. 302). It does this through the cell development process of transdifferentiation. Theoretically, this cycle can repeat indefinitely, rendering it biologically immortal.

In non-biology speak: The Turritopsis nutricula is the only known animal that is capable of reverting completely to its younger self after reaching sexual maturity. Theoretically, T. nutricula is able to repeat this cycle indefinitely, thus being able to "cheat death" and ranking it #1 in my personal list of most awesome animals ever.

Obviously, the Turritopsis nutricula can still be killed via external sources (e.g. toxins, getting stomped on), but barring a boot to the head it seems set to hang around for a very long time.

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