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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Science hangout on a Tuesday night? Come learn about blue button jellies at 7:30 pm EST on March 17th! Speaker: Colin J Anthony, The University of Tokyo Zoom link: u-tokyo-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/8103036128... Meeting ID: 810 3036 1288 Passcode: 527641

Microalgae underpin some of the ocean’s most iconic
symbioses, most notably with reef-building corals. Yet,
sailing the high seas is a new symbiosis. Using a series
of advanced imaging techniques, we provide the first look
at this previously undescribed partnership. Despite
convergence of the cnidarian–algal relationship, unique
morphological localization indicates an independently
evolved, biologically novel endosymbiotic strategy
different from all known symbioses. Amazingly, these
sailing cnidarians seem analogous to an autonomous
greenhouse fueling its reproductive medusoid stages for
life in the open ocean.