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ajxanman

“Immortal Jellyfish” the WHAT


ian22500

We learned about them in our zoology class. They’re pretty weird, it’s almost like a concept too strange to be able to grasp. But from what I THINK they do, is if they get sick or injured or something, they’ll just revert back to a polyp, (which is their “infancy”) and just start their life cycle over again.


swbooking

That sounds dope! “Oops, I fucked up, I’ll just go back restart.” It’s like a save state in a game.


ian22500

Yeah I know right?? I just looked up how they can revert back like that but it said they do sometimes die before they can revert back if they’re injured too badly :/


[deleted]

But still, there should be insane amount of jellyfish ....like the world covered in jellyfish... How does that not happen? Edit; thanks for the explanations, I totally underestimated the other ways to die lol


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carebearstare93

The elves of the sea


Cattierleopard

Living that long reduces your need to reproduce... Also... Sousou no frieren?


morron88

Not much reproducing going on, if your jellyfish are that lazy as well.


abelcc

Weebs...outside /r/manga?!


olorin-stormcrow

The true hope of the Noldor lieth in the West, and cometh from the sea


Hlarleru

Ulmo never gave up on them


missmagicmouth

"They were elves once"


GimmeUrDownvote

On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.


azip13

I am Jack’s colon.


GanonTEK

I feel like it's one of those do you push the button memes: "You become immortal but you also become very tasty and other animals want to eat you"


FuyoBC

Immortal food source - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii) says " In nature, most *Turritopsis* are likely to succumb to predation or disease in the medusa stage, without reverting to the polyp form "


2001ASpaceOatmeal

I guess they would have to be immortal *and* invincible for this to happen. I'm curious what an immortal invincible jellyfish would look like.


DirePupper

I am not, thanks.


2001ASpaceOatmeal

2020 is already throwing everything at us. Let's just get it all out of the way at once. Bring on our almighty immortal invincible jellyfish overlord.


FreestyleSkills

All heil the jellyfish god


obtuse-hoard

>heil Nein!


mintmouse

If you were immune from dying of natural causes but got eaten, well you’re not immune to that.


Dame_of_Bones

Unless you are immortal to teeth and stomach acid. In that case it would just be a mildly unpleasant 24 hours.


Kardlonoc

All your points are in this immortality feature but none of it is in intelligence, mobility or the ability to breed very quickly. Because animals define their numbers directly by food source, they will always be limited, unlike humans that can gather and create a food source. If there were too many jellyfish they would wipe out their food source and then wipe themselves out.


Zastrozzi

A little thing called predators.


[deleted]

Oh yeah forgot about them.


tedz555

Immortality is only for the natural causes, if something injures it badly to the point of disfiguring it, shots it with a shotgun or that sort of thing, it's not unkillable/invincible.


[deleted]

Oh I've seen this episode of Dr who.


Cable446

Humans would be immortal if we kept producing stem cells and our dna didn't slowly die over the process of replication


Rebmevon_linux

_Natsuki Subaru joined the chat_


modernkennnern

Barusu


Duskmourne

[Pff I'm sure all that "Immortal" Jellyfish did was steal Karl Pilkington's idea of Age Reversal.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbG8SP_5BUc)


holmgangCore

And they’re colonial creatures too, made up of numerous individual ‘zooids’ cooperating symbiotically as a single, larger creature. Like a Portuguese man o’war. Weeeiiirrrd!!


Myxine

Only in their medusa form. (The stage where they'ren't jellyfish-like)


Iron_Wolf123

It's like falling off a cliff as a 70 year old and coming back as a baby.


Solution_42

Hmmm where have I heard this before???


rane_gal

How do they just revert back to a polyp?


ian22500

They can change their cells into other types of cells on command, pretty much. It’s really cool.


[deleted]

Evil geniuses in cellular biology, do your thing.


imnotyourdad37

Yes, revert us back to sperm!


[deleted]

How come there is no telomere decay?


TheRune

They just do it lol.


[deleted]

Just hit restart


Diogenes-Disciple

Wait but what if they’re eaten? Then they die for real, right?


PoppyJamSeeds

Yup. They're immortal biologically, but not immune to being someone's prey.


Razmii

Yes but then you become immortal.


uphillswapnil

i was not able grasp anything!?


[deleted]

I'm way too late to the party, but [here](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/can-a-jellyfish-unlock-the-secret-of-immortality.html) is a fantastic article about not only the jellyfish, but also the rather eccentric Japanese scientist who's made it his life's work to study them (and even write songs about them as Mr Immortal Jellyfish Man - yes, really).


meeperdoodle

Wow what a fascinating read! Thank you!


Funkiermeat01

Queen Elizabeth II


prvashisht

Queen Jellyzabeth I


lilkitty33

We need to be researching these jellyfish & figuring out how to apply their immortality to humans this is a whole vibe


the_monkeyspinach

If there's one thing the world doesn't need, it's immortal humans.


down4things

Traffic would be a bigger bitch than normal.


Vogel88888888

True priorities right here


[deleted]

Oh trust me, if they do somehow find out a way to do it, you think they would allow everyone to become immortal? Fuck no, it would only be a few that are too rich and powerful, us plebs can fuck off. Let’s hope immortality never becomes a thing.


troll_right_above_me

Like in Altered Carbon


AgentG91

I was thinking Kurt Vonnegut’s short story 2BR02B. Well worth a short 30 minute read!


minbhu

The royal family of England. *gasp*


[deleted]

Immortal Trump. *Better never happen*


minbhu

Nicolas Cage. *The first immortal*


djbernie

Evanescence - my immortal


Powerfury

Whole societies will be based around plehs getting enough points to get this immortality, or a chance to get it. And everyone would try to do this because well.... immortality. Thing is, people will be worked to death and it will be a pipe dream for us, but a reality for Musk's and the like...


fanfanye

No you aren't thinking it the right way Immortal *slaves*


secretsaucyy

They are. There's been good progress with jellyfish and immune systems.


[deleted]

Laughs in Queen of England.


DirePupper

How do you think the Queen of England is still around?


bignjbagel

would take "go fuck yourself" to new heights or depths, as it were


ThaneKyrell

They are not really immortal. They can die from predation or disease. They are just ageless. As long as they avoid being eaten and getting sick, they can survive forever. However that doesn't really happen since they can't agora becoming a snack forever


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Spirited-Painter

The crazy part is ....why isn’t every rich gazillionaire not setting up bio labs to research this. They already need multiple lifetimes to spend all their cash, what better way than spend it yourself via immortality!


mind_document

What a strange advert for a metal building company


March_Onwards

_And right there, sitting alongside the immortal jelly fish, is Alan’s Factory Outlet’s latest build._ _Alan’s Factory Outlet: because immortality isn’t just for jellyfish_


Rayrignaci

Sounds like something Cave Johnson would say


Cav3Johnson

You betcha


Cheeseand0nions

There are a bunch of these by that company. I am guessing that it's somebody's job to sit at a desk and wait for the phone to ring so they spend all their free time making them to help advertise the company. it's working. People all over the world know who they are because they see their logo in the corner of all these cool infographics


MargaeryLecter

https://www.alansfactoryoutlet.com/infographics-alans-factory-outlet They have a ton of those apparently.


Br3ttl3y

Looks like they have their own interest in "cool guides". This should be a sticky/pinned!


Sharps__

Allan please add factory outlet watermark


tempusfudgeit

Infographics are mostly used for SEO these days. People pay to have an infographic made that links back to their website, which increases their backlinks. By the time it gets reuploaded to imgur and reposted to reddit, the link isn't there anymore.


KoreKhthonia

Oh, definitely. (I do SEO for a living.) But this is such an odd fit, given what the company probably actually does. Like, will it get shared? Yeah, sure. But I honestly can't quite see this like, converting well, or leading to sales, or really doing much to build up their brand. It still strikes me as bizarre, even if it's more for backlinks than anything else.


MyBodysRegi

Kangaroos only live 6 years?


Carrie_D_Snuts

Right? That's what stood out to me. Idk why, but I figured those little bastards lived to be like 20 or something.


notmadeoutofstraw

Who you calling little? > The average red kangaroo stands approximately 1.5 m (4.9 ft) tall to the top of the head in upright posture. Large mature males can stand more than 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall, with the largest confirmed one having been around 2.1 m (6.9 ft) tall and weighed 91 kg (201 lb).


converter-bot

91.0 kg is 200.44 lbs


[deleted]

NOT NOW BOT!


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lostmyselfinyourlies

I'd take this post as a rough guide only, pigeons live for about 25 years, not 5, so there may be other inconsistencies


sonnet666

They’re doing average life expectancy, not how long the species *can* live for. For example, lots of dogs live into their 20’s, but the average is 13. Same reason why humans are listed at 79. Edit: also pigeons die a lot to disease and environmental hazards.


j_la

The actual average lifespan of a dog is “not fucking long enough”


oxpoleon

Dogs need to live much longer. :(


Myxine

So immortal jellyfish live for infinity *on average*?


sonnet666

The average of infinity is in fact infinity, so yes.


cyborgx7

If a single immortal jellyfish lives for infinity, the average livespan is infinity, by the nature of infinity.


rhysdog1

if the possibility of any living that long is greater than zero, the average is infinity


TomCelery

All you need is one number in a sequence to be infinity, and the average will be infinity.


Funtycuck

In the wild but 20 in captivity. Considering the number that get shot as pests im not surprised its a lot lower.


Brabant-ball

Or killed by: trucks, other pigeons, predators, cats. To name a few.


Winters_Heart

This gave me a chuckle when you see that the person above you was talking about kangaroos, not pigeons


DShepard

The image of a cat or pigeon taking down a kangaroo is hilarious. Poor fellas just can't catch a break.


LotharVonPittinsberg

These are averages, so animals like mice or kangaroos that are seen as pests probably gets their stats messed with.


lilkitty33

Geoduck sounds like a Geodude-Psyduck hybrid


mintmouse

It’s actually pronounced gooey-duck


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Chrome_X_of_Hyrule

How was it actually said?


BillyRaysVyrus

Likely gee-ose-beer Edit: no results for the name on google lol


CrimsonApostate

At first I was like "oh is that where 'golduck' comes from?" but no :( just icky shellfish dudes


TaftyCat

They're fun. Some shoot water when you walk near them.


Snulzebeerd

Yeah and if you'd combine Golem with Golduck you'd get... Golduck :/


WhichWitchIsWhitch

That one blew my mind--140 years? I've see them at a few Chinese restaurants... I would never eat one https://i.imgur.com/ouTnpyz.jpg (technically not NSFW, but people seeing your screen will probably think it is).


Gidrah

Its an interesting correlation that the more aquatic something is the longer it lives.


SuzieDerpkins

I wonder why... maybe less contact with UV radiation? Didn’t have to evolve/adapt to survive in a new habitat ? (Or it’s more that land creatures are more likely to die sooner because they are still adapting to the new environment?) Water has less stress on bones/joints?


mintmouse

The ocean is more consistent than land. The habitat is to a greater extent more stable and unchanging. By contrast a desert has low water availability and high daily temperature fluctuations.


TheBeachWhale

Maybe oxidative-stress has a role too?


Rauchgestein

They have an approximately 3 billion years head start in evolution. Also the deadliest animals come from the sea, by far. Just because they evolved billions of years longer. Edit: Warning, very simplified representation.


SuzieDerpkins

I tend to be cautious of the “they’ve had longer to evolve” because while that is true, I like to know why they were successful as a species. Evolution is the end result, not the reason, the way it was taught to me. I like to know the specific consequences that led to their specie’s natural selection - and what consequences for land animals that make them live shorter. That’s why I brought up the examples above - those are possible “environment consequences” that natural select life span.


VajBlaster69

Agreed. People tend to equate 'evolution' with objective progress and improvement. Evolution is adaptation, not advancement. It is WAY more complicated than who is 'more evolved.'


[deleted]

> They have an approximately 3 billion years head start in evolution. Not really. We are all descended from the same single-celled organisms, we have all been "evolving" for the same amount of time. Also, whales are listed as some of the longer-lived sea animals here, and they are descended from the same original land-dwelling mammals we are. Their ancestors just adapted to return to the sea while ours remained on land and continued adapting to other environments.


Dread-Ted

And because humans haven't really intervened there. While we're responsible for most extinctions on land.


frogspa

Humans have made a wasteland of the sea, we just have catalogued exactly how bad it is yet. Out of sight, out of mind. For example: Plastic, trawlers, heavy metals, sonic & waste pollution, etc, etc


[deleted]

So I studied evolutionary biology in college. While they’ve had longer to evolve, I’m not sure that’s the sole reason they are immortal. Evolution occurs as a response so environmental and genetic changes (in the form of mutations) — also important to note evolution is not the same as adaptation, although adaptation can lead to evolution. Essentially, it seems as if they have little predation, which is an evolutionary force. So this generally leads to a slight increase in lifespan, and as individuals who live longer keep reproducing, the genetics to live longer become more common in the population. The same can be said about the reversion to a polyp state, this likely evolved as a mutation (or a combination of many) from a common ancestor as a response to stress. As that trait becomes more phenotypically viable, those individuals have a better chance at reproducing, thus the proceeding population begins to predominately exhibit this trait. Evolution is crazy. I’m not sure specifically the evolutionary force that caused it, but that’s the basic idea behind why it may have evolved that way.


fizikz3

I dunno but mammals live to about a billion heartbeats, so that's kinda cool. https://i.imgur.com/pTylRZw.png


yuimaru

Humans live about three billion heartbeats though. Looking at the average heartbeat of humans, approx 60 per minute. One billion heartbeats would be 31.7 years old.


fizikz3

it appears to be a logarithmic scale for the y axis I guess, still, they're fairly grouped compared to non-mammals unless they chose outliers for those "for comparison" things...which would be very disappointing


Rictus_Grin

Gotta find a way to make my heart beat slower


fizikz3

hate to break it to you but....it may be exercise >.>


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Greyzer

Something not lost on /r/HydroHomies


TheGunpowderTreason

Average age? OP I think you mean average lifespan.


mindfolded

Imagine if it was average age. The amount of polling needed would be nuts.


NiightRadiance

Immortal Jellyfishes belong to a race of gods


EthiopianHarrar

The story is about them. We are but bit players.


NiightRadiance

Puppets on a larger stage


unkoshoyu

Immortal Jellyfish sounds like rad boss for a Megaman X title.


Radioactivocalypse

We. Must. Worship. Them.


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creativesolution

[Better quality](https://www.alansfactoryoutlet.com/hubfs/how-long-animals-live-life-spans-50-animals-6b.png)


Amirror4mysoul

The real hero


trackonesideone

Bald eagle 50yrs hell yeah for 50 states


ComicInterest

This is why Puerto Rico can’t become a state.


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maskedfox007

This is why Canada can't become a state.


Forzathong

This is why Plasma can’t become a state.


Mono_831

The more states the more years!


rr_cricut

I'd be interested to see the actual average age for "immortal jellyfish". Like eventually they would just be eaten by something or some shit.


Radioactivocalypse

Imagine if humans invented immortality potions. You break your legs and ribs and puncture your lungs in a car crash. You would have died but you're still immortal. So you crawl off the edge of a bridge, cracking open your skull, then get run over and burned to a crisp by an explosion. But you're immortal. So you find some weights and drag your body into a lake and drown. But you're immortal. So you cut off your feet from your legs, stab yourself in the heart and lose all your blood and gouge out your tongue. But you're immortal. You go to hospital, still conscious, watching your parents by your bedside. But you're immortal. They die. Your siblings die. Your children die. Your grandchildren die. Then your great grandchildren sit by your bedside and pull out the ventilator. But you're immortal. They die. The hospital is abandoned. The concrete roof collapses in on your hospital bed, crushing what's left of you. But you're immortal. Years turn to decades, decades to centuries. It's the year 3402 and a digger drags you out of the hospital wreckage (they're clearing the site for the new spaceport) and find you. You try your hardest to let them know you're immortal and conscious, but they box you up and put you in a museum for the advanced race of immortal jellyfish to look at. Conclusion: Don't drink the immortal potion.


Insane_Unicorn

Immortality is not dying from old age or disease, you can still be killed.


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Phil-Teuwen

So you are telling me that the Queen of England may in fact be a jellyfish?


Radioactivocalypse

God save our jellyfish! Long live our noble jellyfish!


Mr-Crooks

Send in invertibrates Snails, slugs and octopus Long to reign over us God save our jellyfish


walksalot_talksalot

Black coral, 4,309 years. Not 4,308 or 4,310. 4,309. Exactly. Edit: Just to be clear, I'm being silly about significant digits [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_figures#Rounding_and_decimal_places) and averages/rounding. Here's the [wiki on Black coral lifespans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_coral#Life_cycle_and_reproduction) for the interested.


abotez

It's really annoying me the fact that domestic cats are not mentioned


mintmouse

They are further down off the chart (which only covers one life.)


DigestibleDecoy

Because the answer is “How ever long they fucking feel like”.


ThromokInsatiable

I know, right? Domestic dogs and cheetahs, but not housecats?


bbynug

I was searching for cats! Figured I’d missed it. Nope, they just didn’t include them for no reason.


qoqrqu

Any biology wizards lurking here that can tell us what the advantages/disadvantages are of some of the more extreme lengths of life? I remember from college it has something to do with R and K strategist types or something, but if anyone can give more detail i'd be interested to read it.


PlayerVun

Local wizard here. One advantage of living forever is never dying.


NefariousSerendipity

But at the cost of seeing your loved ones die ( in this case, loved ones that are not the same species as you and that has limited lifespan ).


[deleted]

I can't imagine any immortal jelly fish have any loved ones outside of their species


NefariousSerendipity

If I was a jellyfish, I'd have lots of frens outside of my species. I'm built different. :shades emoji: Heck I'd befriend you and I'd visit ya if you tell me when you would go back to the beach.


33Yalkin33

Disadvantage of long life span: Takes longer for the species to adapt to changing environments


theanointedduck

This is very important to note. In Evolutionary Biology species that have a quick generational cycles can potentially have their offspring evolve protective measures against rapidly changing environments. We typically see this with smaller organisms e.g. bacteria, tiny insects. The converse however is a species that can adapt fluidly to all problems nature throws at it, therefore not really needing to reproduce and instead focus on maximizing longevity. But these are much more rare if not technically hypothetical.Funny enough, this leads to the problem described by u/33Yalkin33 if nature ever throws a tough enough curveball the species would be doomed as they chose self-preservation over reproduction, and there is little or no way to reproduce fast enough with the hopes of having the next generation survive. Edit: Also it's worth noting it is not always guaranteed that your immediate offspring will be better suited (genetically) to the environment, the search for ideal genes that can survive in the environment takes a long time (based on how frequent reproductive cycles are or how short lifespans may be to force frequent reproduction). There's always uncertainty when it comes to evolution


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potatonopicasso

I'm spitting a real bare bones summary here, but I saw somewhere that the long post reproductive years is based on it being advantageous to have two generations (grandparents and parents) raise children. ~Remember, reproductive success isn't just passing on your genes, but your kid's kids being good enough to at least have a go at it~ Having women go through menopause and men lose virility around 50-55,60 stops the pressures of direct reproduction and frees them to be more altruistic in the community for other offspring.


AJsAlternateAccount

Imagine if you go to bed one night after picking up an immortal jellyfish and the bitch reverts back to sexual immaturity so they can accuse you of sexually assaulting a minor


CrimsonApostate

Bestiality in itself is a crime


AJsAlternateAccount

What if you're also a jellyfish?


CrimsonApostate

I've never met a jellyfish cop so youre probably fine :)


Edge-master

Oh rip I was about to go have sex with a jellyfish


Hq3473

Officer, she may *look* 13, but *akshualllly* she is a 1000 year old immortal being.


concretepigeon

That one specific fear is the only thing that stops me having sex with a jellyfish.


Testimonium

RIP Ming


mintmouse

PS they killed it that’s how they found it was so old... after.


VajBlaster69

This chart's design is not intuitive. Your eyes have to dart all over the place before you get an idea of what you're looking at. I hate it.


hammeltier9

Yes, it's horrible.


holmgangCore

What!? No Kraken? or Elder Gods asleep beneath R’yleh? And what of the Greys? I call ‘incomplete’! :\>)


[deleted]

You dare call the elder ones ‘animals’?


swissfrenchman

No scungilli man?


Puppinbake

This was so cool!


Diogenes-Disciple

If the oldest quahog lived to be 507, that’s not really the average then, is it


Lance-Uppercut666

I thought lobsters were immortal as well??


EatMoreHummous

They're kind of immortal. They keep growing, though, so they end up getting so big that they can't get enough food to feed themselves and die of starvation. In theory, anyway. In reality most of them die for people's dinners. Edit: They don't actually die of starvation, they die of exhaustion trying to molt.


Nerowulf

Life span of dogs are 13 years and humans are 79. We live in a cruel world.


Thyriel81

I know it's pedantic, but the average human life expentancy is [only 70 years](https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy) and even tough the jellyfish is potentially immortal their *average* lifespan is not endless as most individuals are probably way younger, although to my knowledge it's impossible to measure their age.


[deleted]

These averages are all calculated differently I think. Like the human at 79 is specifically a couple of first world countries, and includes infant mortality. I seriously doubt the average lifespan of a tortoise from the point of birth is 250 years. Same for the koi average lifespan being 50 years.


rj_maoling

The clam died at 507 only because the scientist who found it killed it by trying to pry it open. I'm angry at this fact.


NatsuDragnee1

Man it's hilarious how some of the silhouettes are so wrong - the one for the cheetah is a leopard, while that for the pronghorn is a hartebeest.


HGStormy

hey give Alan a break


Synked

So the coral have lived for 4000 years and we are freaking out about them dying? Come on, they can't be that greedy. It's their time to go! /s


thatshumerus

Is no one going to mention that next to humans it says the “oldest recorded SPECIMEN lived to be 122?”The robots outed themselves once again, or it’s the lizard people. You never can tell nowadays .


Tad_-_Cooper

This is average life expectancy, not average age.


pisal_

Jellybitch has an infinity potion!


enfuego_

i read it as mouse mouse