Nobody’s ever accused jellfish of being the brightest creatures in the ocean.
These transcluscent, undulating gobs can at first appear to lack any kind of agency, coming into contact with their prey seemingly by accident and floating about at the whim of ocean currents.
But a new study published in Current Biology suggests that jellyfish, despite having no central brain system, can learn from their mistakes.
Researchers trained a tiny Caribbean box jellyfish, less than one-half inch in diameter, to identify and avoid obstacles. Notably, the study counters previously held notions that advanced learning behaviors require a centralized brain.
To better understand how jellyfish engage in associative learning, scientists added white and gray stripes across a tank, mimicking the jelly’s natural habitat of mangrove tree roots slicing through murky water.
At first, the jellyfish swam too close to the stripes and bumped into them repeatedly. However, by the experiment’s conclusion, scientists said the jellyfish increased its buffer from the wall by about 50%, quadrupled its number of successful pivots to avoid hitting the wall and cut its contact with the wall by half.
Although jellyfish have far less nuanced nervous systems than humans, this line of research may help scientists understand how even the most spartan nervous system can perform advanced behaviors to ensure an organism’s survival.
A jellyfish is never going to be man’s best friend. Truth being told, most of us try to avoid them. But the next time you cross paths with one at an aquarium, remember: You have more in common than you might think.