Freshwater jellyfish, a wild free-swimming coelenterate on the verge of extinction worldwide, has reappeared in large quantities in Zhelin Lake in east China's Jiangxi Province.

With the size of a human fingernail, this specie of jellyfish is called by the Chinese "peachblossom jellyfish" for it looks like peach blossom in full bloom.

The jellyfish is very sensitive about the living environment and cannot live in water with temperatures higher than 35 degrees centigrade. So experts attribute its reappearance to the improved water quality in the lake.

The jellyfish can now be seen easily in the 300-sq-km lake. According to local authorities, no industrial pollutant is discharged into the lake and no restaurant is operated on the lake 's islands. Fishing in an area covering 100 sq. km is also banned.

Dubbed as the most primal invertebrate in the world, freshwater jellyfish has lived on Earth for 1.5 billion years.

To date, the jellyfish has become extinct in other countries. It used to be seen in many places in China decades ago. And it could be found only in Zigui County of Hubei Province in the past dozen years.

( China Daily September 17, 2002)