https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Box jellyfish are often feared as dangerous animals, with some species capable of causing severe or even fatal stings. However, box jellyfish nematocysts—organelles responsible for this toxic sting—are theorized to also play an unexpected role in reproduction. While many studies focus on researching the range of toxicity levels exhibited by the more than 50 species of box jellyfish, their reproductive process is poorly understood. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-jellyfish-reveal-secret-life-implications.html Plants & Animals Mon, 01 Jun 2026 13:00:01 EDT news699533821 Finding highly venomous box jellyfish that are almost invisible in water is not an easy task—but researching them is crucial so that we can learn how to safely avoid them. Stings from these "sea-wasps" are extremely painful and can be fatal. Knowing more about box jellyfish helps us know where to expect them, when to expect them, and how we can minimize the risk of encountering them while out for what should be a pleasant swim. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-species-venomous-jellyfish-singapore.html Plants & Animals Fri, 15 May 2026 08:49:22 EDT news698053742 When most people think about biodiversity in lakes and rivers, they imagine fish, plants, or perhaps birds and amphibians. But beneath the surface exists another world that often goes unnoticed: microscopic parasites that quietly shape aquatic ecosystems in ways scientists are only beginning to understand. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-scientists-uncover-hidden-parasite-diversity.html Ecology Thu, 07 May 2026 18:00:08 EDT news697365840 Researchers have reported the discovery of a new species of jellyfish, Malagazzia michelin, marking only the second species of its genus ever found in Japanese waters. Led by Takato Izumi of Fukuyama University, the discovery was a collaborative effort between marine biologists and staff from several prominent institutions, including the Tsuruoka City Kamo Aquarium and the Saikai National Park Kuju-kushima Aquarium. The study is published in ZooKeys. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-michelin-star-jellyfish-japanese-aquaria.html Plants & Animals Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:20:02 EST news691236322 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), in collaboration with the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), has launched the world's first Deep Ocean Omics (DOO) database. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-database-deep-sea-multi-omics.html Ecology Mon, 22 Dec 2025 17:06:18 EST news685645561 A student-led research group from Tohoku University has discovered a new species of the venomous Physalia (commonly known as Portuguese man-of-war) that has never been seen before in northeast Japan. This revelation suggests that warming coastal waters and shifting ocean currents are influencing the distribution of marine organisms in northeastern Japan. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-japan-jellyfish-species-samurai-warrior.html Plants & Animals Fri, 31 Oct 2025 10:20:02 EDT news681123712 A study from the University of Vienna reveals that sea anemones use a molecular mechanism known from bilaterian animals to form their back-to-belly body axis. This mechanism ("BMP shuttling") enables cells to organize themselves during development by interpreting signaling gradients. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-bodybuilding-ancient-sea-anemone.html Evolution Mon, 16 Jun 2025 08:52:04 EDT news669282721 One of the biggest mysteries of evolution is how species first developed complex vision. Jellyfish are helping scientists solve this puzzle, as the group has independently evolved eyes at least nine separate times. Different species of jellyfish have strikingly different types of vision, from simple eyespots that detect light intensity to sophisticated lens eyes similar to those in humans. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-genome-eyed-jellyfish-insight-evolution.html Evolution Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:55:04 EDT news668771702 At the heart of the Amazon, researchers are investigating a mysterious parasite which is devastating fish farms around the world. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-scientists-tackle-parasite-devastating-fish.html Ecology Tue, 22 Apr 2025 12:59:04 EDT news664545541 Student and faculty researchers at Monmouth University have recorded the first confirmation of the anemone species Actinia equina, also known as the beadlet anemone, on North American shores. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-scientists-invasive-species-anemone-jersey.html Ecology Tue, 18 Feb 2025 14:27:29 EST news659111140 As a lake researcher, I have in recent years had quite a few people ask me whether jellyfish really do live in lakes. Some people think they are seeing things, or that their friends or family are. I've even heard of marital spats over the issue. So, are jellyfish present in Canadian freshwater lakes or not? https://phys.org/news/2024-11-freshwater-jellyfish-sightings-canadian-lakes.html Plants & Animals Fri, 01 Nov 2024 10:00:04 EDT news649674001 A research team has published a description of a rare medusa found at a depth of 812 meters. The animal has been sighted only twice in a deep-sea volcanic structure called Sumisu Caldera, in the Ogasawara Islands. The gelatinous animal with a diameter of about 10 cm and a red stomach resembling the Cross of St. George when seen from above is Santjordia pagesi, a newly described species of medusa. Medusae are a type of free-swimming, umbrella-shaped jellyfish with a reduced stalk. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-species-jellyfish-remote-japan.html Plants & Animals Mon, 05 Feb 2024 13:28:03 EST news626362081 A study in the journal Cell sheds new light on the evolution of neurons, focusing on the placozoans, a millimeter-sized marine animal. Researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona find evidence that specialized secretory cells found in these unique and ancient creatures may have given rise to neurons in more complex animals. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-tiny-sea-creatures-reveal-ancient.html Evolution Tue, 19 Sep 2023 11:00:01 EDT news614333387 The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) announces the oldest swimming jellyfish in the fossil record with the newly named Burgessomedusa phasmiformis. These findings are announced in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-oldest-species-jellyfish.html Evolution Tue, 01 Aug 2023 19:00:01 EDT news610100880 A Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU)-led team has discovered a new species of box jellyfish in the Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong. The new jellyfish species, which belongs to the family Tripedaliidae, was named Tripedalia maipoensis by the research team. It is the first discovery of a new box jellyfish species from the waters of China. The discovery also adds a fourth species to the Tripedaliidae family. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-team-jellyfish-species-hong-kong.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Apr 2023 17:12:26 EDT news601056743 A trio of biologists, two with the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland, the third with Universitat de Barcelona, in Spain, has found that a type of Cnidaria is capable of associative learning. Gaelle Botton-Amiot, Simon Sprecher and Pedro Martinez published their study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-starlet-sea-anemones-capable-associative.html Plants & Animals Mon, 03 Apr 2023 10:50:01 EDT news599737534 About 536 million years ago, in the early Cambrian period, an abundance of different species of millimeter-scale marine organisms thrived in continental shelf habitats around the world. Today, their fossils yield clues to ancient ocean conditions and animal evolution. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-simulations-3d-fossils-yield-clues.html Biotechnology Thu, 03 Nov 2022 10:21:18 EDT news586689675 Despite the long, dangerous journey depicted in Pixar's "Finding Nemo," clownfish (and other species of anemonefish) are, in real life, deeply attached to their underwater homes. As young larvae, anemonefish choose a giant sea anemone—tentacled creatures from the phyla Cnidaria—to settle on, remaining there for the rest of their lives. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-tentacles-giant-sea-anemones-reveal.html Evolution Thu, 20 Oct 2022 11:14:08 EDT news585483244 Animals on the early branches of the tree of life, such as jellyfish and sea sponges, defy the usual conventions of aging. Some show abilities to regenerate damaged or missing tissues, halt or reverse aging, and in the case of at least one jellyfish species show a form of "immortality." A new study from researchers at the University of California, Davis, and Harvard Medical School takes a detailed look at a group of proteins called sirtuins, linked to protection against cellular injury and aging, in these animals and across the rest of the animal kingdom. The work was published Sept. 6 in Molecular Biology and Evolution. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-sirtuin-longevity-proteins-early-animal.html Evolution Thu, 22 Sep 2022 16:25:02 EDT news583082701 The cnidocytes—or stinging cells—that are characteristic of sea anemones, hydrae, corals and jellyfish, and make us careful of our feet while wading in the ocean, are also an excellent model for understanding the emergence of new cell types, according to new Cornell research. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-jellyfish-cells-clues-emergence-cell.html Evolution Thu, 12 May 2022 13:07:08 EDT news571579623 The deep-sea crown jelly Atolla is one of the most common residents of the ocean's midnight zone. Its bell has a signature scarlet color and bears one tentacle much longer than the rest. So 15 years ago, when MBARI researchers spotted a jelly that looked like Atolla, but lacked the telltale trailing tentacle, their curiosity was piqued. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-scientists-species-deep-sea-crown-jelly.html Plants & Animals Tue, 19 Apr 2022 15:00:02 EDT news569598976 Gorgonians are an order of soft corals that belong to the large group of Cnidaria, which also includes hard corals, sea anemones, jellyfish and many other species. Gorgonians colonize the seabed all over the world, from shallow coastal areas to deep sea canyons, temperate and tropical areas to polar zones. https://phys.org/news/2022-03-mediterranean-sea-animal-forests-encounter.html Plants & Animals Thu, 31 Mar 2022 11:02:04 EDT news567943296 A new paper in Genome Biology and Evolution maps out for the first time how Hydra, which are a group of small aquatic animals, can regenerate their own heads by changing the way that their genes are regulated, known as epigenetics. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-hydra-animals-regenerate.html Evolution Wed, 08 Dec 2021 12:40:04 EST news558187495 Body axes are molecular coordinate systems along which regulatory genes are activated. These genes then activate the development of anatomical structures in correct locations in the embryo. Thus, the body ensures that we do not develop arms on our heads or ears on our backs. In many organisms, the main body axis is regulated by the β-catenin signaling pathway. In a new article in Nature Communications, a research group led by Grigory Genikhovich at the University of Vienna has found that the way the main body axis of sea anemones is patterned by different intensities of β-catenin signaling is similar to that of sea urchins and vertebrates. This suggests that this axial patterning mechanism already existed about 650 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-evolution-axial-patterning.html Evolution Tue, 29 Jun 2021 12:09:32 EDT news544187213 In the animal kingdom, specific growth factors control body axis development. These signaling molecules are produced by a small group of cells at one end of the embryo to be distributed in a graded fashion toward the opposite pole. Through this process, discrete spatial patterns arise that determine the correct formation of the head-foot axis. A research team at the Center for Organismal Studies (COS) at Heidelberg University recently discovered an enzyme in the freshwater polyp Hydra that critically shapes this process by limiting the activity of certain growth factors. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-body-axis-formation.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 24 Jun 2021 10:44:53 EDT news543750290 Researchers have perfected the recipe for keeping sea anemone and coral cells alive in a petri dish for up to 12 days. The new study, led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, has important applications to study everything from evolutionary biology to human health. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-scientists-breakthrough-culturing-corals-sea.html Ecology Thu, 25 Feb 2021 03:05:32 EST news533444722 To sting or not to sting? For jellyfish, that is the question whenever their tentacles brush up against anything, including millions of human swimmers around the world. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-scientists-jellyfish.html Plants & Animals Thu, 11 Feb 2021 09:27:22 EST news532258039 Researchers based in Brazil and the United States have completed the first-ever mapping exercise to profile the toxins produced by tube-dwelling anemones, or cerianthids, a family of marine animals belonging to the same phylum (Cnidaria) as sea anemones, jellyfish and corals. The analysis revealed that the toxins that can act on the nervous system, cardiovascular system, and cell walls, among other functions, paving the way to the discovery of novel medications. https://phys.org/news/2020-10-tube-dwelling-anemone-toxins-pharmacological-potential.html Plants & Animals Fri, 30 Oct 2020 06:47:35 EDT news523259251 They contain no carbohydrates. No fats. No proteins. Not much else but water. Still, the moon jellies (Aurelia aurita) are eaten by predators in the sea; fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and even corals and turtles. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-jellyfish-calories-predators.html Plants & Animals Wed, 24 Jun 2020 10:30:28 EDT news512213425 In animals, releasing eggs in a timely manner is vital to maximize the chances of successful fertilization. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-jellyfish-egg-production.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 03 Mar 2020 15:47:43 EST news502472859