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Turritopsis dohrnii: Immortal jellyfish

What most of us would recognise as a jellyfish - the otherworldly, gelatinous aquatic animals renowned for their sting-filled tentacles - is actually just the final stage of these animals' life cycle. At least, it usually is.

They continued to observe the jellyfish and found that, when stressed, the medusae would fall to the bottom of the jar and transform into polyps without fertilisation or the typical larval stage occurring. His work with the species is time-consuming, with Kubota needing to monitor and care for the colonies daily, even having to slice up their miniature meals of brine shrimp eggs under a microscope so they're small enough for the tiny jellyfish to eat. While there have not yet been any major problems identified that are linked to immortal jellyfish, their silent spread at the hand of humans is yet another good reminder of our influence on the natural world, even when we don't notice the effect we're having.

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