How a Jellyfish Re-arms

Many invertebrates, like salamanders and ocean stars, will grow a piece

if they lose one. That’s what man of science archangel Abrams expected to happen once

he removed 2 of eight arms from a young moon jelly (Aurelia aurita). But when

Abrams checked on the experiment, “he started yelling … ‘You won’t believe

this—you’ve have to be compelled to come back here and see!’ ” recollects Abrams’s degree advisor, Lea

Goentoro of Caltech in metropolis. rather than regrowing limbs, the jellyfish had

rearranged its remaining arms in order that they were spaced equidistantly around its body.

For a young moon jelly, or associate adult (below), being symmetrical is crucial for

movement and feeding. For Abrams’s take a look at animal to realize that, muscles

contracted in its body, that pushed and force the remaining arms till they

were once more equally spaced. The scientists had stumbled upon a development

completely new science, that they decision “symmetrization.” It’s clearly associate

important method within which jellyfish heal themselves—and, says Goentoro, it could

prove helpful to scientists finding out regenerative mechanisms. —Carrie Arnold