Scientists Identify Incredible Ability of Comb Jellies

Two can literally become one

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Nature is a scientist with a flair for experimentation. One look at the animal kingdom's variety of shapes, sizes, and skills is all the confirmation you need. There are so many bizarre-looking creatures on Earth that it’s challenging to imagine something that could be described as uniquely alien.

Further, each species has diverse but specific traits and senses that shape how it experiences life. I mean, we think we’re pretty cool, but we can’t regenerate entire limbs when injured or physically merge with another person to become one person. Both traits may seem alien, but scientists found they’re actually attributes of the tiny yet surprising comb jellies.

Comb jellies

At first glance, comb jellies look like transparent blobs about the size of a large coin with little hairs rippling along their edges. Considering that the weight of a comb jelly is 99 percent water and 0.4 percent salt, it’s incredible they’re living creatures at all, let alone ones that can regrow their entire body from just half an injured one.

Comb jellies on the beach of England - Image Source: Wikicommons

Despite their name and gelatinous appearance, comb jellies are not jellyfish — they aren’t even closely related to them. Instead, comb jellies are ctenophores and are thought to be the first lineage to branch off from the common ancestor of all other animals. Scientists also believe it’s possible comb jellies had the first nervous and neural systems to ever evolve on Earth.

Looking at the image above, it’s hard to imagine the tiny little blobs are capable of such amazing feats. I suppose that’s why we should never judge by appearance alone, but I digress.

Comb jellies' remarkable abilities have piqued the curiosity of many scientists, including Kei Jokura, a zoologist at the University of Exeter in England, and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences in Japan, and he became the first researcher to document their merging capabilities.