Episode 26

Andreafishy opens the episode with an enthusiastic greeting of "Hey!" and then goes on to say:
"It's been awhile since I made an ocean facts episode and I figured since Chapter 3 just ended, this would be a good time. Plus, I really wanted to share some info behind the inspiration for the Dohrnii tribe!"
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== Cast of Characters ==
== Gallery ==
== Synopsis ==
=== Ocean Facts - Dorhnii Edition ===
The Dohrnii tribe are based on the immortal jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii. Immortal jellyfish are tiny! (About the size of a pinky nail) (ed.note: for comparison, fifteen would fit on the face of a dime.) And it's true, they are biologically immortal. They are not unkillable, they are just able to revert back to a juvenile polyp state, essentially resetting their lives, thus making them somewhat immortal.
When the jellyfish experiences stress, starvation, or simply old age, they undergo a biological change from medusae (the adult jellyfish) into a polyp colony (one of the first stages in jellyfish life). Through a process called Transdifferentiation they are able to transform their old cells into new cell types that are more needed. They attach to the ocean floor and begin asexually growing new, identical individuals. They can repeat this process as many times as they need! Unfortunately, their lives can still end from disease or predation.
This is why the Dorhnii take extra careful steps to make sure all of the tribe is safe and secure (and why they like having powerful allies like the Planifron to protect them). Though in the case of the Dohrnii in the story, they simply regenerate their DNA indefinitely instead of reverting back to a polyp stage.
Currently there is only one scientist that has been able to successfully sustain a colony of T. dohrnii in captivity. His name is Shin Kubota, based in Japan and works for Kyoto University. (The author notes in the margin that she named Shin Hydroanii after this researcher.) She highly recommends looking this guy up, he's super passionate and even writes songs about his jelllyfish. He even has a jellyfish singing hat.
There are other "immortal" sea creatures, like hydras and lobsters, but the immortal jellyfish seem to be the only biologically immortal ones so far, and that's pretty neat
=== Wrap up ===
Thanks for listening to my ocean talks! I love researching this stuff and sharing it with everyone, so I hope you all enjoy!
In other news, Damselfish reached 600 subscribers recently (ed. note: this was on 9/5/2020) As a celebration, I think it would be a good time for a Q&A so please leave some questions for me down below! You can ask me or any of the characters anything! (No spoilers though!) I'll post the Q&A at the end of next week's episode, so please stay tuned!
Stay hydrated and see ya soon.
=== More information ===
* For more in-depth information regarding the "immortal jellyfish" look into the article Turritopsis dohrnii on Wikipedia.
* There is no handy article for Shin Kubota, but a Google search shows a plethora of links to the man's pursuit of his research and his drive to protect Nature, as well as some interesting videos of his music.
== References ==