Berwald asks a researcher why jellyfish are transparent, he replies: “The question is, why isn’t everything transparent?” Being invisible against the backdrop of open water has obvious advantages.Nat Geo interviewed me for an article about the amazing diversity of stings in the animal kingdom. This combination of insider and outsider perspective is uniquely suited to a book on creatures whose internal organs are visible through transparent outer layers. Her ambivalence about that choice, and the turning points that led her to an obsession with jellyfish, are elegantly juxtaposed against stories of the adventures of being a science journalist among sometimes suspicious researchers and of the lives of the jellyfish themselves. in ocean science and a talent for computer programming but eventually decided against a scientific career in either academics or industry. In Juli Berwald’s fascinating “Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone,” jellyfish become a metaphor for what ails us, a kind of watery canary in the oceanic coal mine, and a guide to how little we know about the ocean’s common inhabitants.īiological details about virtually every aspect of jellyfish-their ability to luminesce, the inexplicable “blooms” that can render beaches uninhabitable and overwhelm other forms of marine life, the way their life cycle allows some species to be essentially immortal-are interwoven with the author’s story of being a wife, mother and science writer. In keeping with this gelatinous set of contradictions, they can be either food or pets. On the other hand, they are basically blobs of glup, as James Thurber characterized the villainous Todal in his book “The 13 Clocks.” Jellyfish lack the intelligent curiosity of octopuses and the graceful body integrity of snails. Many species are beautiful, with colorful appendages that dangle in the water like deadly strings of beads. On the one hand, they have a hypnotic elegance as they pulsate through the sea, bringing to mind ballerinas with tentacle tutus, mesmerizing in their repetitive motion.
Jellyfish hold a peculiar position in the hierarchy of animal charisma.
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