Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Not only do jellyfish sting and are problematic to many open water swimmers, but Professor Shin Kubota of Kyoto University’s Seto Marine Biological Laboratory is also researching if and how Japan’s tiny Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish can regenerate itself to become young again.

“Out of all the animals in the world, only they are able to reverse the aging process instead of dying,” he said. “We really don’t know their lifespan. They might live forever.”

Never-dying jellyfish…that is one thing that open water swimmers can do without.

For more information on Professor Kubota‘s discovery and the Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish, visit a fascinating Motherboard article on the jellyfish here.

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