Two comb jellies stunned scientists by merging into one creature

A new paper published in Current Biology has revealed a startling new fact about comb jellies that scientists weren’t expecting. That surprise? The fact that multiple comb jellies can merge when one is wounded, allowing the two to become one combined creature and heal from injuries.

It’s a shocking discovery that has left scientists with their mouths agape, catching flies. The researchers discovered the merging of the two creatures when they spotted an abnormally large comb jelly in a tank. They also noticed that it had some very atypical organs, including two rare-end lobes and two sensory structures we know as apical organs.

Typically, comb jellies only have one of those sensory structures, as well as one rare-end lobe. The question then became, did this strange creature come about because of a merging of two comb jellies, or was it just a rare and unusual individual?

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A new species of comb jelly was discovered in the depths of the ocean. Image source: NOAA Fisheries

Further studies of the comb jellies proved that over the course of a single night, two individuals can actually become one, with no appararent separation between the two, the researchers claim. In fact, when researchers poked at one of the rare-end lobes, the entire creature seemed to react as if it affected both of the merged jellies.

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The researchers say they were “astonished” to determine that the stimulation applied to one side of the merged comb jelly resulted in a response from the other side as well. Further, the research seems to show that two separate individuals can quickly merge into one, including merging their nervous systems and even sharing potential actions.

Further observation of the comb jellies showed that they could fuse up to 95 percent of the way in just two hours, with the contractions within their muscles becoming completely synchronous during that time. This isn’t the first time something in the ocean has left scientists puzzled, either. The finger of death , a frozen type of brine and ice, has also left mouths agape at how it forms so quickly, and the discovery of strange blobs at the bottom of the ocean continues to leave scientists looking for other mysteries beneath the surface of the sea.

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